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Intemational Racquetball (ISSN 0746middot6145) is pubbshedSeplember through May and August (Summer Issue) from our editorial offices at 575 Mill Street in Reno Nevada Subscriptions for the US and territories IS $24 for twelve issues Foreign subscriptions are $36 (US) for 12 issues paid in advance Please mail your subscriptlons to PO Box 7548 Reno NY 89510

Editor-Drew Stoddard Managing EditorAdvertising-Jason Holloman General Manager-Bul Stoddard Auociate Editor-John Barlow Contributing Editon-Jerry Hilecher Steve Strandemo Advertising inquiries should be sent 10 Jason Holloman or call (702 ) 329middot4511 during business hoUls

Copyright 1984 by Internationa l Racquetba ll Reproduction in whole or in part lthout permission is prohibited Opinions expressed by au thors a nd claims sta ted by advertuers in International Racquetball do not necessarily reflect the policies and opinions 01 the publishers

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VOL2 NO8 ISSUE 15

Table of Contents INTERNATIONAL

October 1984 RACQUETBALL

Turn T urn Turn

Letters to the Editor

What Happened to the Bad Boys

News amp New Products

Interview Milt Radmilovich

The Greatest Part IV

Tournament The Men in Davison

Tournament A New Twist in Stockton

Psych

Invitational The Women in Alaska

Advanced Racquetball The Serve

Head to Head Competition Chart

Pro Tournament Schedule

Amateur Tournament Schedule

Rankings

The Publishers Column

The Editors Column

RBs Mentor in the Far East

by Jerry Hilecher

Hogan Handles the Field

ereg Peck Takes His First

Bruns amp Strandemo

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 8

Page 10

Page 15

Page 18

Page 26

Page 32

Page 34

Page 35

Page 43

Page 44

Page 44

Page 46

-

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------ ------- PUBLISHERS COLUMN ------------

TURN TURN TURN

Jason Holloman Pu blisher

T here is a time for every season turn turn turn-Im sure most of you have heard that line in

song and for me October gives those words more emphasis This month is a time of change the trees (for most of us) don bright cloaks of leaves and the warm breezes of summer shift to chilly winds Children fill the streets in the morning on their way to school and their feet shuffle through the crackle of fallen leaves

Tome October signals an end to all the frivolity of Summer Its time to buckle down and get back to business F ortumiddot natey our business is racquetball and more fortunate still it is a new season for racquetball I dont know if all of you feel as excited as I do about the new season but I guess that harkens back to my college days when on those crisp fall mornings my roommate and I would drag ourselves out of bed early so we could get

a racquetball court at the P E center before regular classes started It was a great way to start the day Too bad it had to start at 6 am

I guess thats another thing that October gives to me-a feeling that I can start over that I can re-commit myself to my goals I can look back over the past months of 1984 and measure my proshygress and if I havent done all that well I can look at the remainder of the year as a challenge to accomplish more to be better

As a magazine believe it or not our goal has been to make racquetball a betshyter more enjoyable sport for all When I look back over the past 18 months that we have been publishing I can see we have made amazing progress but when I turn around to see what exciting things can be done in the future I realize that all that we have done has just been the first step of a long journey

Enough of waxing prosetic Youve got a little reading to do so I want you to get down to business

Obviously our cover illustrates our two most important stories Hogan won in Davison and Gregg Peck beat Hogan in Stockton As I read the stories I came to two realizations One Marty Hogan looms like a giant behind racquetball goading all to super performance His tremendous record of wins beckons Come one come all Beat me if you can My second realization was that the younger generation of pros has taken up Martys challenge and the apprentices may soon become the Masters

When Drew and I received Jerry Hilechers The Greatest Part IV we read it and concurred that Jerry is beshycoming an excellent writer His insights and knowledge of the players he talks about is very entertaining I thoroughly recommend flipping to page 15 to his article

The interview this month is with Milton Radmilovich I interviewed Milt at the World Games and was very impressed with his sincerity and enthusiasm for the sport I also wondered how he took time from his busy schedule year after year

without pay to promote racquetball in the Far East This man deserves our highest praise If we had a dozen people like Milt I cant imagine what heights racquetball might reach as a world sport His intershyview starts on page 10

Strandemos instructional on the serve is excellent Lots of good pictures illusshytrate what we should be doing in the sershyvice box I personally need this particushylar instruction badly Read it starting on page 35 You might need it too

On page 30 is an article about how we are sometimes our own worst enemy on the court-how we put up psychological barriers that might keep us from learning and improving You might recognize some of the characters in the article Unfortunately the ones that need to read this article are the ones that dont want to read this article Oh well maybe you could surreptitiously stick it in his locker

We have a new Head-to-Head chart this month for both the men and the women There have been a lot of new faces appear in the top fifteen players so we had to revamp the list Check out the new rankings for more surprises

Before I sign off here Id like to tell you something humorous that happened as a result of our last issue Brian Hawkes was on the cover It seems the cover (and Brian) made quite a hit with the girls Ed Martin club owner and entrepreneur extraordinaire told us that the single copy he had at his Incline Village club at Tahoe was passed around so many times among the gentle gender that he began to wonder whether it was becoming unsanishytary He turned his back for a moment though and it was gone Sprinting out to the parking lot he rushed up to a car that was just leaving the parking lot and sure enough there on the front seat sat the missing magazine Ed smiled and told her that it was his only copy and that he would need it back The woman blushed and confessed to Ed Oh Im sorry I took it But I couldnt help myself hes so CUTE

Ladies if you want a copy of the Sepshytember issue just give me a call (702shy329-4511) and Ill send you one bull

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5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor I The Golden Arrow Health amp Raemiddot

quetball Club is in Lake Placid We play walleyball on the court as well as holding karate classes and playing racquetball Our biggest problem is that we do not have a locking system inside the court to prevent persons outside from entering while we are playing

The door is marked-Please Do Not Enter-but someone always does anyshyway _Could you please let me know where

I might be able to get a court door lock that turns and locks and then lays flat on the inside of the court Sincerely Jim Mapes

The place you need to contact is Stratshyford Industries Inc That company suppshylies almost all of the plastic laminate court doors in the US_ and they have the patent on the Goody Box that sits on the doors for balls and keys Replaceshyment hardware is also available such as the Flush Ring Pulls knobs closers etc Shipping takes two to three days Standmiddot ard court doors take two to three weeks They require prepayment For more information contact Stratford Industries Inc 2284 Paragon Drive San Jose CA 95131 or call 408middot263middot8686_ bull bull

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EDITORS COLUMN

The Pro Men Are Changing

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAD BOYS

Drew Stoddard Editor

f sports like people are a sumshytotal of their experience then mens professional racquetball

will be forever changed by the chaotic events of this past 18 months Some of that change is already becoming visible

Let me give a little background for those of you who have not been keeping up on the saga of the pro tour

It is no secret to anyone who has folshylowed the game over the last year-and-ashyhall that mens pro racquetball has been

floundering The last organized pro tour ended with the final stop of Charlie Drakes Catalina Invitational Tour in Chicago in May of 1983 That controshyversial tour broke down when certain manufacturers barred their players from signing contracts that would have ellecshytively given Drake total control over proshyfessional racquetball until 1989

Since that time various groups have been working feverishly to rebuild the game in an open format The most notashyble is the Racquetball Manufacturers Association (RMA) a group composed of top level executives representing the sports largest companies which is comshymitted to having a tour in place by Janushyary of 1985 Sources within the RMA insist the ellort is about to bear fruit In fact as I write this column meetings are being held in Anaheim and New York City to finalize plans for a three-year large-scale tour

For the last 18 months while that ellort has proceeded pro racquetball has existed only in the form of independently staged and funded tournaments Combined the prize money in those events has amounted to roughly one-third of what was paid ou~ during the last season of the Catalina tour

There is no question the sport in genshyeral has sullered for lack of a visible tour But the greatest impact has obviously been on the players themselves All pro players have seen their income levels drop dramatically a few of the top playshyers have been devastated There are fewer events to play less money to win and the future is still not certain

You might expect that all of this would have demoralized the men it would cershytainly be understandable And yet the precarious state of the pro game seems to have had a maturing ellect on the players

I recently returned from covering the first two independent tournaments of the

1984-85 season Davison Michigan and Stockton California Both were fine events-the competition was great and the outcome exciting (Both tournaments are covered later in this issue) But what really fascinated me was the behavior of the players themselves almost without exception they were congenial cooperashytive and well professional

Since it began mens pro racquetball has been infamous for the behavior of the players-Ive done my share of criticizing here in this column Over the years the players have earned the reputation of a pack of spoiled brats who were given so much for so long that they sullered from what I call SPCCL syndrome show-up play complain collect and leave Horshyror stories about the behavior of the pros both on and 011 the court abound

Heres an example of one story I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago when we interviewed Milton Radmilovich of the Japanese Racquetball Association

It seems that a few years back two of the top players in the mens game were invited to Japan to help spur the fledgling growth of racquetball in that country The Japanese were undertandably upset when the two showed up for a single exhibition match and then proceeded to play tourist for the rest of their stay Their hosts had reason to be upset for their ellorts the two players were paid all of their expenses and received an appearance fee of $10000

My how things have changed Three weeks ago 60 professional players showed up in Davison to play for a total purse of $10000 And almost everyone pitched in to help Jim Hiser make that tournament a success they refereed their own matches (thats right) they made themselves available to the press they socialized with the crowd and each other they showed up in force at the banquet

I

6

and for the most part they conducted themselves like gentlemen on the court

Ill tell you the truth there have been times when Ive been embarrassed just to admit I was associated with professional racquetball But by the time I left Davimiddot son [ was so proud of those guys I felt like [ would burst

So why the big change Simple Motivation

A spectator I was talking to during the quarterfinals in Davison asked this quesshytion What kind of an idiot spends $800 of his own money to fly to Davison play two matches and win $400 The answer I told him should be obvious someone who loves the game

The fact is that professional racquetball is rapidly becoming the domain of a new generation Probably three-quarters of the players in Davison never played pro ball during the glory days of the late sevenshyties They were not allowed to play on the Catalina tour in 81 and82 For many of them todays non-tour is the only pro game they have ever known And if there is one thing you can say with certainty about todays pro player it is that he is not playing strictly for the money

More importantly a good portion of the older generation-those responsible

for pro racquetballs bad reputationshyhave decided to call it quits Thats fortushynate for all of us I suspect that racquetshyball is not the first industry to demonstrate that if you take away the easy money the prima-donnas will go find something else to do _

I should mention that there are a coushyple of the older generation players who have stayed with the game and who have helped change player behavior for the better Specifically Marty Hogan and Mike Yellen the games top two players have served as excellent examples for the players coming up and are probably parshytially responsible for the overall change

Whatever the reason todays players seem to have realized correctly that if the pro game is to survive it will only do so on the strength of a sellable product Independent tournaments must be nurshytured Sponsors must be rewarded with non-controversial visibility And fans must become convinced that viewing a pro match will not ruin their children for life

I am quite convinced that professional racquetball is about to experience a rebirth Were going to get a second chance to sell our sport to the world Its good to know that this time around the product will match the promise bull

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NEWS AND NEW PRODUCTS

Notice to Computer Owners

We at International Racquetshyball are exploring the possibilishyties of publishing the magazine electronically as well as our regshyular print-and-mail service Electronic publishing would offer to our subscribers virtually instant access to the news of the sport of racquetball as well as past issues of the monthly magazine For example professional tournashyment results would be available immediately following each match The electronic magazine would be publsihed via one or more of the national database services such as Compuserve The Source or News Net

Currently we are trying to determine how many of our subshyscribers have access to personal or home computers with modems and how many would be interested in such a service which would carry a charge additional to the regular subshyscription fee

If you have access to such equipment and would be intershyested in our publishing electronshyically please dr0p us a line and let us know _ We would like to know what type of equipment you would be using (computer modem etc ) and which ifany of the national databases you already access

Please send responses and suggestions about this proposed service to

Drew Stoddard Editor International Racquetball PO_ Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510 Should you be interested in

contacting us electronically either for information about your subscription writing a letter to the editor or any other purpose we are currently set up to receive electronic mail at any of the folshy

lowing addresses Compuserve- 71 036 1320 The Source-BBN 159 Dow Jones MCI-203-2843 We will make a final determishy

nation on publishing e1ectronishycaly as soon as we are able to assess the current demand and

will inform our readers of our plans Drew Stoddard

Pro Toumaments Set

Dates have been finalized for the popular Schoebers Christmas Racquetball Classic The event will be held the weekend of December 6-9 1984 Prize money for the mens professional division has been tentatively set at $12 000 with prize money being offered also in the mens and womens open divisions

Again this year the tournashyment will be staged at the Schoebers club in Pleasanton CA The facility famous for its spectator court which has two walls constructed of white glass one of which is the front wall

For more information about the event contact

Bill Dunn or John O Donovan Schoebers Racquetball Spas 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Dates have also been set for

pro stops in Arizona (Arizona Athletic Club) in January and Cheyenne Wyoming (Rocky Mountain Health Club) in March (See schedule on page 4 )

AARA Institutes Referee Certification

The American Amateur Racquetball Association has adopted a National Referee Cershytification Program which is designed to improve and standshyardize officiating at tournaments throughout the country The program which involves instrucshytion and a written test is designed to be administered by local offishycials and state AARA organizers

For more information about the referee certification program contact the AARA in Colorado Springs or

Michael Arnolt 411 South Harbour Dr Noblesville IN 46060

Hogan Wins in Davison Marty Hogan gained back

his 1 ranking in menis professhysional racquetball by winning the Bud Light Open in Davison Michigan for his second conshy

secutive year Hogan defeated Scott Oliver in the final in four games 11-92-1111-5 11-4 It was the second time Hogan had defeated Oliver in the final of a ranking pro event the preshyvious time was in Beaverton OR in February

Oliver reached the final after beating Corey Brysman of Burshybank CA who had earlier upset defending national champion Mike Yellen in the round-of-16 (Story on page 18)

Gregg Peck Wins Stockton Fourth ranked Gregg Peck

won his first ranking professional tournament by winning the Michelob Light-Stockton ProshyAm at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton CA Peck won the tournament by crushing top-seeded Marty Hogan in three games 11 -9 11-2 11-3 The victory moved Peck up to the 3 position in the mens rankings Hogan remained 1 despite the loss

Hometown favorite Scott Oliver was upset in the round-ofshy16 by Evan Terry of Arizona Gerry Price of nearby Castro Valley upset 2 seed Dave Peck in the quarterfinals 11-2 11 -6 7-1111-7

Second ranked Mike Yellen did not enter the Stockton event (Story on page 26)

Adams Wins in Alaska Lynn Adams the 2 ranked

womens professional player won the Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball Classic at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage AK for her third consecutive year Adams downed Vicki Panzeri of Seattle in the final in three games 21-14 21-12 21 -6

The Anchorage tournament is a post -season invitational tournament for professional women and is not a WPRA ranking event (Story on page 34)

Ashaway Introduces Liberty String

Ashaway Line and Twine now offers a new 16 gauge (130 mm) racquet string for tennis squash and racquetball T enshy

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bull 8

PART FOUR IN A SERIES

~UE GRENIEST

by Jerry Hilecher

~-o-~-~

Greatest Variety of Game Plans I-Mike Yellen 2-Jerry Hilecher 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Dave Peck 5-Steve Strandemo

Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Marty Hogan 5-Steve Strandemo

When I first began thinking about the Greatest series over a year ago I thought the Most Consisshy

tent and Greatest Variety of Game Plans categories would be very separate After interviewing Mike Yellen at a recent pro stop and looking over the pros responses I see how similar they are With one exception the two lists are identical Marty Hogan is the only pure power player in either category With all the talk about power it is refreshing to see another side of racquetball Intelligent game plans and shot discipline are still key elements in the games of many top pros

Greatest Variety of Game Plans Mike Yellen

Mike Yellen surged to racquetball prominence at the age of 18 At the 1978 NRC Championships outside of Detroit I lost to Mike in the quarterfinals and he then went on to lose a very controversial match to Charlie Brumfield in the semis Mike showed an unbelievable amount of concentration and coolness characterisshytics which are trademarks of his game today

Mike suggests that his game style has developed through the coaching of Leonard Karpeles Leonard has masshytered squash and tennis in which he has been nationally ranked He also played professional football

Leonard Karpeles looks at each sport with the realization that there is a best way of doing things He feels many of the racquet sports are similar and emphasshyizes minimizing your mistakes proper court positioning and optimal shot selecshytion When talking to Leonard he was able to break racquetball down better than anyone I have ever talked to with the exception of Charlie Brumfield Leoshynard s philosophy is based on having an overall game philosophy of playng the entire game with a specific purpose He feels that a player should concentrate on

I

hitting high percentage shots and pressurshying their opponents by aggressive court I positioning This strategy should be played the length of the match not just at certain points

An opponents hot streak is like an elevator he says You know if it goes up sooner or later it will come back down

When asked about anticipation Leonard replied You dont anticipate where your opponent is going to hit the ball its knowledge Anticipation is guessshying You dont guess you know where the shot will go 80 of the time

Leonard looks at shot selection as hitshyting a high percentage shot that forces the opponent into a defensive position Since these shots are hit with a high percentage of success mistakes are rare

After the next half hour of Leonards fancy jargon and a lot of Xs and Os we finally got to the secret of Mikes success As Leonard pointed out He doesn t have to worry about his opponent or his game just that if he moves his feet hell be able to hit his shot Since Mike knows where his opponent is going to hit a shot 80 of the time as long as he moves his feet he will be able to hit a return that will put his opponent in a defensive position You can see why Mike has had such consistent success over his career

In playing Mike over the years I have noticed he has had very few off days Our close matches have often followed a familiar pattern Mike would generally start the match a little slow and off balshyance As the match would go on he would start reading my shots better and throwshying me off my game Points would be much harder to score and by the end of the match I would be exhausted wondershying what happened_

When talking to Mike I heard many of Leonards principles in different words I dont care who Im playing whether a power player like Hogan or a control player like Brumfield I won t try to beat them at their own game I play my style and let them adjust to me

Mike wont give an opponent an edge the player has to earn everything he gets If an opponent is winning Mike will genshyerally change the speed in his shots If he is missing offensive opportunities he will raise his traget zone until he gets his rhythm Most players when losing start going for broke hitting shots harder and lower than before Over the years many

9

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

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INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

If you think this funny-looking s~ makes a serious impression on the liill waitll you see your opponents face

Mad RaqTM is the only stringing arrangement in the world umque enough to have a lb~tntAnd oruy Omega it

Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

Mad Raq It looks different It plays with a difference

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

~ bullPenn is a registered trademark of the Penn AthletiC Producls Company Keeping you ahead of the gametrade

--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

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RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

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of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

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Intemational Racquetball (ISSN 0746middot6145) is pubbshedSeplember through May and August (Summer Issue) from our editorial offices at 575 Mill Street in Reno Nevada Subscriptions for the US and territories IS $24 for twelve issues Foreign subscriptions are $36 (US) for 12 issues paid in advance Please mail your subscriptlons to PO Box 7548 Reno NY 89510

Editor-Drew Stoddard Managing EditorAdvertising-Jason Holloman General Manager-Bul Stoddard Auociate Editor-John Barlow Contributing Editon-Jerry Hilecher Steve Strandemo Advertising inquiries should be sent 10 Jason Holloman or call (702 ) 329middot4511 during business hoUls

Copyright 1984 by Internationa l Racquetba ll Reproduction in whole or in part lthout permission is prohibited Opinions expressed by au thors a nd claims sta ted by advertuers in International Racquetball do not necessarily reflect the policies and opinions 01 the publishers

3

VOL2 NO8 ISSUE 15

Table of Contents INTERNATIONAL

October 1984 RACQUETBALL

Turn T urn Turn

Letters to the Editor

What Happened to the Bad Boys

News amp New Products

Interview Milt Radmilovich

The Greatest Part IV

Tournament The Men in Davison

Tournament A New Twist in Stockton

Psych

Invitational The Women in Alaska

Advanced Racquetball The Serve

Head to Head Competition Chart

Pro Tournament Schedule

Amateur Tournament Schedule

Rankings

The Publishers Column

The Editors Column

RBs Mentor in the Far East

by Jerry Hilecher

Hogan Handles the Field

ereg Peck Takes His First

Bruns amp Strandemo

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 8

Page 10

Page 15

Page 18

Page 26

Page 32

Page 34

Page 35

Page 43

Page 44

Page 44

Page 46

-

I

------ ------- PUBLISHERS COLUMN ------------

TURN TURN TURN

Jason Holloman Pu blisher

T here is a time for every season turn turn turn-Im sure most of you have heard that line in

song and for me October gives those words more emphasis This month is a time of change the trees (for most of us) don bright cloaks of leaves and the warm breezes of summer shift to chilly winds Children fill the streets in the morning on their way to school and their feet shuffle through the crackle of fallen leaves

Tome October signals an end to all the frivolity of Summer Its time to buckle down and get back to business F ortumiddot natey our business is racquetball and more fortunate still it is a new season for racquetball I dont know if all of you feel as excited as I do about the new season but I guess that harkens back to my college days when on those crisp fall mornings my roommate and I would drag ourselves out of bed early so we could get

a racquetball court at the P E center before regular classes started It was a great way to start the day Too bad it had to start at 6 am

I guess thats another thing that October gives to me-a feeling that I can start over that I can re-commit myself to my goals I can look back over the past months of 1984 and measure my proshygress and if I havent done all that well I can look at the remainder of the year as a challenge to accomplish more to be better

As a magazine believe it or not our goal has been to make racquetball a betshyter more enjoyable sport for all When I look back over the past 18 months that we have been publishing I can see we have made amazing progress but when I turn around to see what exciting things can be done in the future I realize that all that we have done has just been the first step of a long journey

Enough of waxing prosetic Youve got a little reading to do so I want you to get down to business

Obviously our cover illustrates our two most important stories Hogan won in Davison and Gregg Peck beat Hogan in Stockton As I read the stories I came to two realizations One Marty Hogan looms like a giant behind racquetball goading all to super performance His tremendous record of wins beckons Come one come all Beat me if you can My second realization was that the younger generation of pros has taken up Martys challenge and the apprentices may soon become the Masters

When Drew and I received Jerry Hilechers The Greatest Part IV we read it and concurred that Jerry is beshycoming an excellent writer His insights and knowledge of the players he talks about is very entertaining I thoroughly recommend flipping to page 15 to his article

The interview this month is with Milton Radmilovich I interviewed Milt at the World Games and was very impressed with his sincerity and enthusiasm for the sport I also wondered how he took time from his busy schedule year after year

without pay to promote racquetball in the Far East This man deserves our highest praise If we had a dozen people like Milt I cant imagine what heights racquetball might reach as a world sport His intershyview starts on page 10

Strandemos instructional on the serve is excellent Lots of good pictures illusshytrate what we should be doing in the sershyvice box I personally need this particushylar instruction badly Read it starting on page 35 You might need it too

On page 30 is an article about how we are sometimes our own worst enemy on the court-how we put up psychological barriers that might keep us from learning and improving You might recognize some of the characters in the article Unfortunately the ones that need to read this article are the ones that dont want to read this article Oh well maybe you could surreptitiously stick it in his locker

We have a new Head-to-Head chart this month for both the men and the women There have been a lot of new faces appear in the top fifteen players so we had to revamp the list Check out the new rankings for more surprises

Before I sign off here Id like to tell you something humorous that happened as a result of our last issue Brian Hawkes was on the cover It seems the cover (and Brian) made quite a hit with the girls Ed Martin club owner and entrepreneur extraordinaire told us that the single copy he had at his Incline Village club at Tahoe was passed around so many times among the gentle gender that he began to wonder whether it was becoming unsanishytary He turned his back for a moment though and it was gone Sprinting out to the parking lot he rushed up to a car that was just leaving the parking lot and sure enough there on the front seat sat the missing magazine Ed smiled and told her that it was his only copy and that he would need it back The woman blushed and confessed to Ed Oh Im sorry I took it But I couldnt help myself hes so CUTE

Ladies if you want a copy of the Sepshytember issue just give me a call (702shy329-4511) and Ill send you one bull

4

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5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor I The Golden Arrow Health amp Raemiddot

quetball Club is in Lake Placid We play walleyball on the court as well as holding karate classes and playing racquetball Our biggest problem is that we do not have a locking system inside the court to prevent persons outside from entering while we are playing

The door is marked-Please Do Not Enter-but someone always does anyshyway _Could you please let me know where

I might be able to get a court door lock that turns and locks and then lays flat on the inside of the court Sincerely Jim Mapes

The place you need to contact is Stratshyford Industries Inc That company suppshylies almost all of the plastic laminate court doors in the US_ and they have the patent on the Goody Box that sits on the doors for balls and keys Replaceshyment hardware is also available such as the Flush Ring Pulls knobs closers etc Shipping takes two to three days Standmiddot ard court doors take two to three weeks They require prepayment For more information contact Stratford Industries Inc 2284 Paragon Drive San Jose CA 95131 or call 408middot263middot8686_ bull bull

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EDITORS COLUMN

The Pro Men Are Changing

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAD BOYS

Drew Stoddard Editor

f sports like people are a sumshytotal of their experience then mens professional racquetball

will be forever changed by the chaotic events of this past 18 months Some of that change is already becoming visible

Let me give a little background for those of you who have not been keeping up on the saga of the pro tour

It is no secret to anyone who has folshylowed the game over the last year-and-ashyhall that mens pro racquetball has been

floundering The last organized pro tour ended with the final stop of Charlie Drakes Catalina Invitational Tour in Chicago in May of 1983 That controshyversial tour broke down when certain manufacturers barred their players from signing contracts that would have ellecshytively given Drake total control over proshyfessional racquetball until 1989

Since that time various groups have been working feverishly to rebuild the game in an open format The most notashyble is the Racquetball Manufacturers Association (RMA) a group composed of top level executives representing the sports largest companies which is comshymitted to having a tour in place by Janushyary of 1985 Sources within the RMA insist the ellort is about to bear fruit In fact as I write this column meetings are being held in Anaheim and New York City to finalize plans for a three-year large-scale tour

For the last 18 months while that ellort has proceeded pro racquetball has existed only in the form of independently staged and funded tournaments Combined the prize money in those events has amounted to roughly one-third of what was paid ou~ during the last season of the Catalina tour

There is no question the sport in genshyeral has sullered for lack of a visible tour But the greatest impact has obviously been on the players themselves All pro players have seen their income levels drop dramatically a few of the top playshyers have been devastated There are fewer events to play less money to win and the future is still not certain

You might expect that all of this would have demoralized the men it would cershytainly be understandable And yet the precarious state of the pro game seems to have had a maturing ellect on the players

I recently returned from covering the first two independent tournaments of the

1984-85 season Davison Michigan and Stockton California Both were fine events-the competition was great and the outcome exciting (Both tournaments are covered later in this issue) But what really fascinated me was the behavior of the players themselves almost without exception they were congenial cooperashytive and well professional

Since it began mens pro racquetball has been infamous for the behavior of the players-Ive done my share of criticizing here in this column Over the years the players have earned the reputation of a pack of spoiled brats who were given so much for so long that they sullered from what I call SPCCL syndrome show-up play complain collect and leave Horshyror stories about the behavior of the pros both on and 011 the court abound

Heres an example of one story I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago when we interviewed Milton Radmilovich of the Japanese Racquetball Association

It seems that a few years back two of the top players in the mens game were invited to Japan to help spur the fledgling growth of racquetball in that country The Japanese were undertandably upset when the two showed up for a single exhibition match and then proceeded to play tourist for the rest of their stay Their hosts had reason to be upset for their ellorts the two players were paid all of their expenses and received an appearance fee of $10000

My how things have changed Three weeks ago 60 professional players showed up in Davison to play for a total purse of $10000 And almost everyone pitched in to help Jim Hiser make that tournament a success they refereed their own matches (thats right) they made themselves available to the press they socialized with the crowd and each other they showed up in force at the banquet

I

6

and for the most part they conducted themselves like gentlemen on the court

Ill tell you the truth there have been times when Ive been embarrassed just to admit I was associated with professional racquetball But by the time I left Davimiddot son [ was so proud of those guys I felt like [ would burst

So why the big change Simple Motivation

A spectator I was talking to during the quarterfinals in Davison asked this quesshytion What kind of an idiot spends $800 of his own money to fly to Davison play two matches and win $400 The answer I told him should be obvious someone who loves the game

The fact is that professional racquetball is rapidly becoming the domain of a new generation Probably three-quarters of the players in Davison never played pro ball during the glory days of the late sevenshyties They were not allowed to play on the Catalina tour in 81 and82 For many of them todays non-tour is the only pro game they have ever known And if there is one thing you can say with certainty about todays pro player it is that he is not playing strictly for the money

More importantly a good portion of the older generation-those responsible

for pro racquetballs bad reputationshyhave decided to call it quits Thats fortushynate for all of us I suspect that racquetshyball is not the first industry to demonstrate that if you take away the easy money the prima-donnas will go find something else to do _

I should mention that there are a coushyple of the older generation players who have stayed with the game and who have helped change player behavior for the better Specifically Marty Hogan and Mike Yellen the games top two players have served as excellent examples for the players coming up and are probably parshytially responsible for the overall change

Whatever the reason todays players seem to have realized correctly that if the pro game is to survive it will only do so on the strength of a sellable product Independent tournaments must be nurshytured Sponsors must be rewarded with non-controversial visibility And fans must become convinced that viewing a pro match will not ruin their children for life

I am quite convinced that professional racquetball is about to experience a rebirth Were going to get a second chance to sell our sport to the world Its good to know that this time around the product will match the promise bull

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NEWS AND NEW PRODUCTS

Notice to Computer Owners

We at International Racquetshyball are exploring the possibilishyties of publishing the magazine electronically as well as our regshyular print-and-mail service Electronic publishing would offer to our subscribers virtually instant access to the news of the sport of racquetball as well as past issues of the monthly magazine For example professional tournashyment results would be available immediately following each match The electronic magazine would be publsihed via one or more of the national database services such as Compuserve The Source or News Net

Currently we are trying to determine how many of our subshyscribers have access to personal or home computers with modems and how many would be interested in such a service which would carry a charge additional to the regular subshyscription fee

If you have access to such equipment and would be intershyested in our publishing electronshyically please dr0p us a line and let us know _ We would like to know what type of equipment you would be using (computer modem etc ) and which ifany of the national databases you already access

Please send responses and suggestions about this proposed service to

Drew Stoddard Editor International Racquetball PO_ Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510 Should you be interested in

contacting us electronically either for information about your subscription writing a letter to the editor or any other purpose we are currently set up to receive electronic mail at any of the folshy

lowing addresses Compuserve- 71 036 1320 The Source-BBN 159 Dow Jones MCI-203-2843 We will make a final determishy

nation on publishing e1ectronishycaly as soon as we are able to assess the current demand and

will inform our readers of our plans Drew Stoddard

Pro Toumaments Set

Dates have been finalized for the popular Schoebers Christmas Racquetball Classic The event will be held the weekend of December 6-9 1984 Prize money for the mens professional division has been tentatively set at $12 000 with prize money being offered also in the mens and womens open divisions

Again this year the tournashyment will be staged at the Schoebers club in Pleasanton CA The facility famous for its spectator court which has two walls constructed of white glass one of which is the front wall

For more information about the event contact

Bill Dunn or John O Donovan Schoebers Racquetball Spas 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Dates have also been set for

pro stops in Arizona (Arizona Athletic Club) in January and Cheyenne Wyoming (Rocky Mountain Health Club) in March (See schedule on page 4 )

AARA Institutes Referee Certification

The American Amateur Racquetball Association has adopted a National Referee Cershytification Program which is designed to improve and standshyardize officiating at tournaments throughout the country The program which involves instrucshytion and a written test is designed to be administered by local offishycials and state AARA organizers

For more information about the referee certification program contact the AARA in Colorado Springs or

Michael Arnolt 411 South Harbour Dr Noblesville IN 46060

Hogan Wins in Davison Marty Hogan gained back

his 1 ranking in menis professhysional racquetball by winning the Bud Light Open in Davison Michigan for his second conshy

secutive year Hogan defeated Scott Oliver in the final in four games 11-92-1111-5 11-4 It was the second time Hogan had defeated Oliver in the final of a ranking pro event the preshyvious time was in Beaverton OR in February

Oliver reached the final after beating Corey Brysman of Burshybank CA who had earlier upset defending national champion Mike Yellen in the round-of-16 (Story on page 18)

Gregg Peck Wins Stockton Fourth ranked Gregg Peck

won his first ranking professional tournament by winning the Michelob Light-Stockton ProshyAm at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton CA Peck won the tournament by crushing top-seeded Marty Hogan in three games 11 -9 11-2 11-3 The victory moved Peck up to the 3 position in the mens rankings Hogan remained 1 despite the loss

Hometown favorite Scott Oliver was upset in the round-ofshy16 by Evan Terry of Arizona Gerry Price of nearby Castro Valley upset 2 seed Dave Peck in the quarterfinals 11-2 11 -6 7-1111-7

Second ranked Mike Yellen did not enter the Stockton event (Story on page 26)

Adams Wins in Alaska Lynn Adams the 2 ranked

womens professional player won the Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball Classic at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage AK for her third consecutive year Adams downed Vicki Panzeri of Seattle in the final in three games 21-14 21-12 21 -6

The Anchorage tournament is a post -season invitational tournament for professional women and is not a WPRA ranking event (Story on page 34)

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bull 8

PART FOUR IN A SERIES

~UE GRENIEST

by Jerry Hilecher

~-o-~-~

Greatest Variety of Game Plans I-Mike Yellen 2-Jerry Hilecher 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Dave Peck 5-Steve Strandemo

Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Marty Hogan 5-Steve Strandemo

When I first began thinking about the Greatest series over a year ago I thought the Most Consisshy

tent and Greatest Variety of Game Plans categories would be very separate After interviewing Mike Yellen at a recent pro stop and looking over the pros responses I see how similar they are With one exception the two lists are identical Marty Hogan is the only pure power player in either category With all the talk about power it is refreshing to see another side of racquetball Intelligent game plans and shot discipline are still key elements in the games of many top pros

Greatest Variety of Game Plans Mike Yellen

Mike Yellen surged to racquetball prominence at the age of 18 At the 1978 NRC Championships outside of Detroit I lost to Mike in the quarterfinals and he then went on to lose a very controversial match to Charlie Brumfield in the semis Mike showed an unbelievable amount of concentration and coolness characterisshytics which are trademarks of his game today

Mike suggests that his game style has developed through the coaching of Leonard Karpeles Leonard has masshytered squash and tennis in which he has been nationally ranked He also played professional football

Leonard Karpeles looks at each sport with the realization that there is a best way of doing things He feels many of the racquet sports are similar and emphasshyizes minimizing your mistakes proper court positioning and optimal shot selecshytion When talking to Leonard he was able to break racquetball down better than anyone I have ever talked to with the exception of Charlie Brumfield Leoshynard s philosophy is based on having an overall game philosophy of playng the entire game with a specific purpose He feels that a player should concentrate on

I

hitting high percentage shots and pressurshying their opponents by aggressive court I positioning This strategy should be played the length of the match not just at certain points

An opponents hot streak is like an elevator he says You know if it goes up sooner or later it will come back down

When asked about anticipation Leonard replied You dont anticipate where your opponent is going to hit the ball its knowledge Anticipation is guessshying You dont guess you know where the shot will go 80 of the time

Leonard looks at shot selection as hitshyting a high percentage shot that forces the opponent into a defensive position Since these shots are hit with a high percentage of success mistakes are rare

After the next half hour of Leonards fancy jargon and a lot of Xs and Os we finally got to the secret of Mikes success As Leonard pointed out He doesn t have to worry about his opponent or his game just that if he moves his feet hell be able to hit his shot Since Mike knows where his opponent is going to hit a shot 80 of the time as long as he moves his feet he will be able to hit a return that will put his opponent in a defensive position You can see why Mike has had such consistent success over his career

In playing Mike over the years I have noticed he has had very few off days Our close matches have often followed a familiar pattern Mike would generally start the match a little slow and off balshyance As the match would go on he would start reading my shots better and throwshying me off my game Points would be much harder to score and by the end of the match I would be exhausted wondershying what happened_

When talking to Mike I heard many of Leonards principles in different words I dont care who Im playing whether a power player like Hogan or a control player like Brumfield I won t try to beat them at their own game I play my style and let them adjust to me

Mike wont give an opponent an edge the player has to earn everything he gets If an opponent is winning Mike will genshyerally change the speed in his shots If he is missing offensive opportunities he will raise his traget zone until he gets his rhythm Most players when losing start going for broke hitting shots harder and lower than before Over the years many

9

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

10

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tennis racquets dramatically changed from your hand than with standard-the game for millions of tennis players ~III~sized racquetsshyEktelon s new oversized MACROrM out where tests SERIES racquets are going to change prove you hit the game of racquetball for you balls the most

From the moment you pick it up It means more youll hit winners on balls youre not powerful more even getting to now accurate shots

a lot more often

The MACRO Racquets Patent pending

Actually Lighter Than Many Standard-Sized Racquets As a result of exclusive new high-strength

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~BROWNING

j

bull

INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

If you think this funny-looking s~ makes a serious impression on the liill waitll you see your opponents face

Mad RaqTM is the only stringing arrangement in the world umque enough to have a lb~tntAnd oruy Omega it

Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

Mad Raq It looks different It plays with a difference

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

pe_bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull__bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull_--_bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull_ bullbullbull--____-_bull

Moving Make sure Internati onal Racq uetball travels with yo u to your new loc ation Fi ll in the Infor Y at ion bel ow and send it in to International RacquetbJ II P O Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510

OLD ADDRESS

Name

Address

Cit y ________________ State _ _ ___

Zip ______________________________________________

NEW ADDRESS

Name ______________________ ___

Address

City ________________ State ______

Zip _____ Phone

~----------------------------bullbull------~

15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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Tests prove Wilson TruBlue lasts longer than Penn~ Our Wilson TruBlue certainly shows its colors when it comes to durability

Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

~ bullPenn is a registered trademark of the Penn AthletiC Producls Company Keeping you ahead of the gametrade

--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

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-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

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of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

Second Class postage paid at Ren o Nevada and add itional mailing offices

POSTMASTER SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO INTERNATIONAL RACQUETBALL PO BOX 7548 RENO NEVADA 89510

Intemational Racquetball (ISSN 0746middot6145) is pubbshedSeplember through May and August (Summer Issue) from our editorial offices at 575 Mill Street in Reno Nevada Subscriptions for the US and territories IS $24 for twelve issues Foreign subscriptions are $36 (US) for 12 issues paid in advance Please mail your subscriptlons to PO Box 7548 Reno NY 89510

Editor-Drew Stoddard Managing EditorAdvertising-Jason Holloman General Manager-Bul Stoddard Auociate Editor-John Barlow Contributing Editon-Jerry Hilecher Steve Strandemo Advertising inquiries should be sent 10 Jason Holloman or call (702 ) 329middot4511 during business hoUls

Copyright 1984 by Internationa l Racquetba ll Reproduction in whole or in part lthout permission is prohibited Opinions expressed by au thors a nd claims sta ted by advertuers in International Racquetball do not necessarily reflect the policies and opinions 01 the publishers

3

VOL2 NO8 ISSUE 15

Table of Contents INTERNATIONAL

October 1984 RACQUETBALL

Turn T urn Turn

Letters to the Editor

What Happened to the Bad Boys

News amp New Products

Interview Milt Radmilovich

The Greatest Part IV

Tournament The Men in Davison

Tournament A New Twist in Stockton

Psych

Invitational The Women in Alaska

Advanced Racquetball The Serve

Head to Head Competition Chart

Pro Tournament Schedule

Amateur Tournament Schedule

Rankings

The Publishers Column

The Editors Column

RBs Mentor in the Far East

by Jerry Hilecher

Hogan Handles the Field

ereg Peck Takes His First

Bruns amp Strandemo

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 8

Page 10

Page 15

Page 18

Page 26

Page 32

Page 34

Page 35

Page 43

Page 44

Page 44

Page 46

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I

------ ------- PUBLISHERS COLUMN ------------

TURN TURN TURN

Jason Holloman Pu blisher

T here is a time for every season turn turn turn-Im sure most of you have heard that line in

song and for me October gives those words more emphasis This month is a time of change the trees (for most of us) don bright cloaks of leaves and the warm breezes of summer shift to chilly winds Children fill the streets in the morning on their way to school and their feet shuffle through the crackle of fallen leaves

Tome October signals an end to all the frivolity of Summer Its time to buckle down and get back to business F ortumiddot natey our business is racquetball and more fortunate still it is a new season for racquetball I dont know if all of you feel as excited as I do about the new season but I guess that harkens back to my college days when on those crisp fall mornings my roommate and I would drag ourselves out of bed early so we could get

a racquetball court at the P E center before regular classes started It was a great way to start the day Too bad it had to start at 6 am

I guess thats another thing that October gives to me-a feeling that I can start over that I can re-commit myself to my goals I can look back over the past months of 1984 and measure my proshygress and if I havent done all that well I can look at the remainder of the year as a challenge to accomplish more to be better

As a magazine believe it or not our goal has been to make racquetball a betshyter more enjoyable sport for all When I look back over the past 18 months that we have been publishing I can see we have made amazing progress but when I turn around to see what exciting things can be done in the future I realize that all that we have done has just been the first step of a long journey

Enough of waxing prosetic Youve got a little reading to do so I want you to get down to business

Obviously our cover illustrates our two most important stories Hogan won in Davison and Gregg Peck beat Hogan in Stockton As I read the stories I came to two realizations One Marty Hogan looms like a giant behind racquetball goading all to super performance His tremendous record of wins beckons Come one come all Beat me if you can My second realization was that the younger generation of pros has taken up Martys challenge and the apprentices may soon become the Masters

When Drew and I received Jerry Hilechers The Greatest Part IV we read it and concurred that Jerry is beshycoming an excellent writer His insights and knowledge of the players he talks about is very entertaining I thoroughly recommend flipping to page 15 to his article

The interview this month is with Milton Radmilovich I interviewed Milt at the World Games and was very impressed with his sincerity and enthusiasm for the sport I also wondered how he took time from his busy schedule year after year

without pay to promote racquetball in the Far East This man deserves our highest praise If we had a dozen people like Milt I cant imagine what heights racquetball might reach as a world sport His intershyview starts on page 10

Strandemos instructional on the serve is excellent Lots of good pictures illusshytrate what we should be doing in the sershyvice box I personally need this particushylar instruction badly Read it starting on page 35 You might need it too

On page 30 is an article about how we are sometimes our own worst enemy on the court-how we put up psychological barriers that might keep us from learning and improving You might recognize some of the characters in the article Unfortunately the ones that need to read this article are the ones that dont want to read this article Oh well maybe you could surreptitiously stick it in his locker

We have a new Head-to-Head chart this month for both the men and the women There have been a lot of new faces appear in the top fifteen players so we had to revamp the list Check out the new rankings for more surprises

Before I sign off here Id like to tell you something humorous that happened as a result of our last issue Brian Hawkes was on the cover It seems the cover (and Brian) made quite a hit with the girls Ed Martin club owner and entrepreneur extraordinaire told us that the single copy he had at his Incline Village club at Tahoe was passed around so many times among the gentle gender that he began to wonder whether it was becoming unsanishytary He turned his back for a moment though and it was gone Sprinting out to the parking lot he rushed up to a car that was just leaving the parking lot and sure enough there on the front seat sat the missing magazine Ed smiled and told her that it was his only copy and that he would need it back The woman blushed and confessed to Ed Oh Im sorry I took it But I couldnt help myself hes so CUTE

Ladies if you want a copy of the Sepshytember issue just give me a call (702shy329-4511) and Ill send you one bull

4

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5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor I The Golden Arrow Health amp Raemiddot

quetball Club is in Lake Placid We play walleyball on the court as well as holding karate classes and playing racquetball Our biggest problem is that we do not have a locking system inside the court to prevent persons outside from entering while we are playing

The door is marked-Please Do Not Enter-but someone always does anyshyway _Could you please let me know where

I might be able to get a court door lock that turns and locks and then lays flat on the inside of the court Sincerely Jim Mapes

The place you need to contact is Stratshyford Industries Inc That company suppshylies almost all of the plastic laminate court doors in the US_ and they have the patent on the Goody Box that sits on the doors for balls and keys Replaceshyment hardware is also available such as the Flush Ring Pulls knobs closers etc Shipping takes two to three days Standmiddot ard court doors take two to three weeks They require prepayment For more information contact Stratford Industries Inc 2284 Paragon Drive San Jose CA 95131 or call 408middot263middot8686_ bull bull

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EDITORS COLUMN

The Pro Men Are Changing

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAD BOYS

Drew Stoddard Editor

f sports like people are a sumshytotal of their experience then mens professional racquetball

will be forever changed by the chaotic events of this past 18 months Some of that change is already becoming visible

Let me give a little background for those of you who have not been keeping up on the saga of the pro tour

It is no secret to anyone who has folshylowed the game over the last year-and-ashyhall that mens pro racquetball has been

floundering The last organized pro tour ended with the final stop of Charlie Drakes Catalina Invitational Tour in Chicago in May of 1983 That controshyversial tour broke down when certain manufacturers barred their players from signing contracts that would have ellecshytively given Drake total control over proshyfessional racquetball until 1989

Since that time various groups have been working feverishly to rebuild the game in an open format The most notashyble is the Racquetball Manufacturers Association (RMA) a group composed of top level executives representing the sports largest companies which is comshymitted to having a tour in place by Janushyary of 1985 Sources within the RMA insist the ellort is about to bear fruit In fact as I write this column meetings are being held in Anaheim and New York City to finalize plans for a three-year large-scale tour

For the last 18 months while that ellort has proceeded pro racquetball has existed only in the form of independently staged and funded tournaments Combined the prize money in those events has amounted to roughly one-third of what was paid ou~ during the last season of the Catalina tour

There is no question the sport in genshyeral has sullered for lack of a visible tour But the greatest impact has obviously been on the players themselves All pro players have seen their income levels drop dramatically a few of the top playshyers have been devastated There are fewer events to play less money to win and the future is still not certain

You might expect that all of this would have demoralized the men it would cershytainly be understandable And yet the precarious state of the pro game seems to have had a maturing ellect on the players

I recently returned from covering the first two independent tournaments of the

1984-85 season Davison Michigan and Stockton California Both were fine events-the competition was great and the outcome exciting (Both tournaments are covered later in this issue) But what really fascinated me was the behavior of the players themselves almost without exception they were congenial cooperashytive and well professional

Since it began mens pro racquetball has been infamous for the behavior of the players-Ive done my share of criticizing here in this column Over the years the players have earned the reputation of a pack of spoiled brats who were given so much for so long that they sullered from what I call SPCCL syndrome show-up play complain collect and leave Horshyror stories about the behavior of the pros both on and 011 the court abound

Heres an example of one story I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago when we interviewed Milton Radmilovich of the Japanese Racquetball Association

It seems that a few years back two of the top players in the mens game were invited to Japan to help spur the fledgling growth of racquetball in that country The Japanese were undertandably upset when the two showed up for a single exhibition match and then proceeded to play tourist for the rest of their stay Their hosts had reason to be upset for their ellorts the two players were paid all of their expenses and received an appearance fee of $10000

My how things have changed Three weeks ago 60 professional players showed up in Davison to play for a total purse of $10000 And almost everyone pitched in to help Jim Hiser make that tournament a success they refereed their own matches (thats right) they made themselves available to the press they socialized with the crowd and each other they showed up in force at the banquet

I

6

and for the most part they conducted themselves like gentlemen on the court

Ill tell you the truth there have been times when Ive been embarrassed just to admit I was associated with professional racquetball But by the time I left Davimiddot son [ was so proud of those guys I felt like [ would burst

So why the big change Simple Motivation

A spectator I was talking to during the quarterfinals in Davison asked this quesshytion What kind of an idiot spends $800 of his own money to fly to Davison play two matches and win $400 The answer I told him should be obvious someone who loves the game

The fact is that professional racquetball is rapidly becoming the domain of a new generation Probably three-quarters of the players in Davison never played pro ball during the glory days of the late sevenshyties They were not allowed to play on the Catalina tour in 81 and82 For many of them todays non-tour is the only pro game they have ever known And if there is one thing you can say with certainty about todays pro player it is that he is not playing strictly for the money

More importantly a good portion of the older generation-those responsible

for pro racquetballs bad reputationshyhave decided to call it quits Thats fortushynate for all of us I suspect that racquetshyball is not the first industry to demonstrate that if you take away the easy money the prima-donnas will go find something else to do _

I should mention that there are a coushyple of the older generation players who have stayed with the game and who have helped change player behavior for the better Specifically Marty Hogan and Mike Yellen the games top two players have served as excellent examples for the players coming up and are probably parshytially responsible for the overall change

Whatever the reason todays players seem to have realized correctly that if the pro game is to survive it will only do so on the strength of a sellable product Independent tournaments must be nurshytured Sponsors must be rewarded with non-controversial visibility And fans must become convinced that viewing a pro match will not ruin their children for life

I am quite convinced that professional racquetball is about to experience a rebirth Were going to get a second chance to sell our sport to the world Its good to know that this time around the product will match the promise bull

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NEWS AND NEW PRODUCTS

Notice to Computer Owners

We at International Racquetshyball are exploring the possibilishyties of publishing the magazine electronically as well as our regshyular print-and-mail service Electronic publishing would offer to our subscribers virtually instant access to the news of the sport of racquetball as well as past issues of the monthly magazine For example professional tournashyment results would be available immediately following each match The electronic magazine would be publsihed via one or more of the national database services such as Compuserve The Source or News Net

Currently we are trying to determine how many of our subshyscribers have access to personal or home computers with modems and how many would be interested in such a service which would carry a charge additional to the regular subshyscription fee

If you have access to such equipment and would be intershyested in our publishing electronshyically please dr0p us a line and let us know _ We would like to know what type of equipment you would be using (computer modem etc ) and which ifany of the national databases you already access

Please send responses and suggestions about this proposed service to

Drew Stoddard Editor International Racquetball PO_ Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510 Should you be interested in

contacting us electronically either for information about your subscription writing a letter to the editor or any other purpose we are currently set up to receive electronic mail at any of the folshy

lowing addresses Compuserve- 71 036 1320 The Source-BBN 159 Dow Jones MCI-203-2843 We will make a final determishy

nation on publishing e1ectronishycaly as soon as we are able to assess the current demand and

will inform our readers of our plans Drew Stoddard

Pro Toumaments Set

Dates have been finalized for the popular Schoebers Christmas Racquetball Classic The event will be held the weekend of December 6-9 1984 Prize money for the mens professional division has been tentatively set at $12 000 with prize money being offered also in the mens and womens open divisions

Again this year the tournashyment will be staged at the Schoebers club in Pleasanton CA The facility famous for its spectator court which has two walls constructed of white glass one of which is the front wall

For more information about the event contact

Bill Dunn or John O Donovan Schoebers Racquetball Spas 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Dates have also been set for

pro stops in Arizona (Arizona Athletic Club) in January and Cheyenne Wyoming (Rocky Mountain Health Club) in March (See schedule on page 4 )

AARA Institutes Referee Certification

The American Amateur Racquetball Association has adopted a National Referee Cershytification Program which is designed to improve and standshyardize officiating at tournaments throughout the country The program which involves instrucshytion and a written test is designed to be administered by local offishycials and state AARA organizers

For more information about the referee certification program contact the AARA in Colorado Springs or

Michael Arnolt 411 South Harbour Dr Noblesville IN 46060

Hogan Wins in Davison Marty Hogan gained back

his 1 ranking in menis professhysional racquetball by winning the Bud Light Open in Davison Michigan for his second conshy

secutive year Hogan defeated Scott Oliver in the final in four games 11-92-1111-5 11-4 It was the second time Hogan had defeated Oliver in the final of a ranking pro event the preshyvious time was in Beaverton OR in February

Oliver reached the final after beating Corey Brysman of Burshybank CA who had earlier upset defending national champion Mike Yellen in the round-of-16 (Story on page 18)

Gregg Peck Wins Stockton Fourth ranked Gregg Peck

won his first ranking professional tournament by winning the Michelob Light-Stockton ProshyAm at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton CA Peck won the tournament by crushing top-seeded Marty Hogan in three games 11 -9 11-2 11-3 The victory moved Peck up to the 3 position in the mens rankings Hogan remained 1 despite the loss

Hometown favorite Scott Oliver was upset in the round-ofshy16 by Evan Terry of Arizona Gerry Price of nearby Castro Valley upset 2 seed Dave Peck in the quarterfinals 11-2 11 -6 7-1111-7

Second ranked Mike Yellen did not enter the Stockton event (Story on page 26)

Adams Wins in Alaska Lynn Adams the 2 ranked

womens professional player won the Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball Classic at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage AK for her third consecutive year Adams downed Vicki Panzeri of Seattle in the final in three games 21-14 21-12 21 -6

The Anchorage tournament is a post -season invitational tournament for professional women and is not a WPRA ranking event (Story on page 34)

Ashaway Introduces Liberty String

Ashaway Line and Twine now offers a new 16 gauge (130 mm) racquet string for tennis squash and racquetball T enshy

sile strength is over 100 lbs This economical Americanshymade string is constructed with fift een nylon filaments chemishycally bonded to a strong nylon core then coated with a tough wear-layer LIBERTYs nylon phenol resin keeps the string from prematurely fraying Availshyable in black gold and natural in reels and sets

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Unique Sports introduces FASHION BAND the narrow head band Packaged one to a poly bag they come in all the fashion colors from lavender to pink to basic white This is a very comfortable yet practical headband Made of 94 cotton and 6 elastic to absorb sweat and hold your hair in place Suggested retail is 89cent Availashyble from

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bull 8

PART FOUR IN A SERIES

~UE GRENIEST

by Jerry Hilecher

~-o-~-~

Greatest Variety of Game Plans I-Mike Yellen 2-Jerry Hilecher 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Dave Peck 5-Steve Strandemo

Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Marty Hogan 5-Steve Strandemo

When I first began thinking about the Greatest series over a year ago I thought the Most Consisshy

tent and Greatest Variety of Game Plans categories would be very separate After interviewing Mike Yellen at a recent pro stop and looking over the pros responses I see how similar they are With one exception the two lists are identical Marty Hogan is the only pure power player in either category With all the talk about power it is refreshing to see another side of racquetball Intelligent game plans and shot discipline are still key elements in the games of many top pros

Greatest Variety of Game Plans Mike Yellen

Mike Yellen surged to racquetball prominence at the age of 18 At the 1978 NRC Championships outside of Detroit I lost to Mike in the quarterfinals and he then went on to lose a very controversial match to Charlie Brumfield in the semis Mike showed an unbelievable amount of concentration and coolness characterisshytics which are trademarks of his game today

Mike suggests that his game style has developed through the coaching of Leonard Karpeles Leonard has masshytered squash and tennis in which he has been nationally ranked He also played professional football

Leonard Karpeles looks at each sport with the realization that there is a best way of doing things He feels many of the racquet sports are similar and emphasshyizes minimizing your mistakes proper court positioning and optimal shot selecshytion When talking to Leonard he was able to break racquetball down better than anyone I have ever talked to with the exception of Charlie Brumfield Leoshynard s philosophy is based on having an overall game philosophy of playng the entire game with a specific purpose He feels that a player should concentrate on

I

hitting high percentage shots and pressurshying their opponents by aggressive court I positioning This strategy should be played the length of the match not just at certain points

An opponents hot streak is like an elevator he says You know if it goes up sooner or later it will come back down

When asked about anticipation Leonard replied You dont anticipate where your opponent is going to hit the ball its knowledge Anticipation is guessshying You dont guess you know where the shot will go 80 of the time

Leonard looks at shot selection as hitshyting a high percentage shot that forces the opponent into a defensive position Since these shots are hit with a high percentage of success mistakes are rare

After the next half hour of Leonards fancy jargon and a lot of Xs and Os we finally got to the secret of Mikes success As Leonard pointed out He doesn t have to worry about his opponent or his game just that if he moves his feet hell be able to hit his shot Since Mike knows where his opponent is going to hit a shot 80 of the time as long as he moves his feet he will be able to hit a return that will put his opponent in a defensive position You can see why Mike has had such consistent success over his career

In playing Mike over the years I have noticed he has had very few off days Our close matches have often followed a familiar pattern Mike would generally start the match a little slow and off balshyance As the match would go on he would start reading my shots better and throwshying me off my game Points would be much harder to score and by the end of the match I would be exhausted wondershying what happened_

When talking to Mike I heard many of Leonards principles in different words I dont care who Im playing whether a power player like Hogan or a control player like Brumfield I won t try to beat them at their own game I play my style and let them adjust to me

Mike wont give an opponent an edge the player has to earn everything he gets If an opponent is winning Mike will genshyerally change the speed in his shots If he is missing offensive opportunities he will raise his traget zone until he gets his rhythm Most players when losing start going for broke hitting shots harder and lower than before Over the years many

9

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

10

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INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

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Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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Moving Make sure Internati onal Racq uetball travels with yo u to your new loc ation Fi ll in the Infor Y at ion bel ow and send it in to International RacquetbJ II P O Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

- 6- _ bull I

Tests prove Wilson TruBlue lasts longer than Penn~ Our Wilson TruBlue certainly shows its colors when it comes to durability

Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

~ bullPenn is a registered trademark of the Penn AthletiC Producls Company Keeping you ahead of the gametrade

--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

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As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

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of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

------ ------- PUBLISHERS COLUMN ------------

TURN TURN TURN

Jason Holloman Pu blisher

T here is a time for every season turn turn turn-Im sure most of you have heard that line in

song and for me October gives those words more emphasis This month is a time of change the trees (for most of us) don bright cloaks of leaves and the warm breezes of summer shift to chilly winds Children fill the streets in the morning on their way to school and their feet shuffle through the crackle of fallen leaves

Tome October signals an end to all the frivolity of Summer Its time to buckle down and get back to business F ortumiddot natey our business is racquetball and more fortunate still it is a new season for racquetball I dont know if all of you feel as excited as I do about the new season but I guess that harkens back to my college days when on those crisp fall mornings my roommate and I would drag ourselves out of bed early so we could get

a racquetball court at the P E center before regular classes started It was a great way to start the day Too bad it had to start at 6 am

I guess thats another thing that October gives to me-a feeling that I can start over that I can re-commit myself to my goals I can look back over the past months of 1984 and measure my proshygress and if I havent done all that well I can look at the remainder of the year as a challenge to accomplish more to be better

As a magazine believe it or not our goal has been to make racquetball a betshyter more enjoyable sport for all When I look back over the past 18 months that we have been publishing I can see we have made amazing progress but when I turn around to see what exciting things can be done in the future I realize that all that we have done has just been the first step of a long journey

Enough of waxing prosetic Youve got a little reading to do so I want you to get down to business

Obviously our cover illustrates our two most important stories Hogan won in Davison and Gregg Peck beat Hogan in Stockton As I read the stories I came to two realizations One Marty Hogan looms like a giant behind racquetball goading all to super performance His tremendous record of wins beckons Come one come all Beat me if you can My second realization was that the younger generation of pros has taken up Martys challenge and the apprentices may soon become the Masters

When Drew and I received Jerry Hilechers The Greatest Part IV we read it and concurred that Jerry is beshycoming an excellent writer His insights and knowledge of the players he talks about is very entertaining I thoroughly recommend flipping to page 15 to his article

The interview this month is with Milton Radmilovich I interviewed Milt at the World Games and was very impressed with his sincerity and enthusiasm for the sport I also wondered how he took time from his busy schedule year after year

without pay to promote racquetball in the Far East This man deserves our highest praise If we had a dozen people like Milt I cant imagine what heights racquetball might reach as a world sport His intershyview starts on page 10

Strandemos instructional on the serve is excellent Lots of good pictures illusshytrate what we should be doing in the sershyvice box I personally need this particushylar instruction badly Read it starting on page 35 You might need it too

On page 30 is an article about how we are sometimes our own worst enemy on the court-how we put up psychological barriers that might keep us from learning and improving You might recognize some of the characters in the article Unfortunately the ones that need to read this article are the ones that dont want to read this article Oh well maybe you could surreptitiously stick it in his locker

We have a new Head-to-Head chart this month for both the men and the women There have been a lot of new faces appear in the top fifteen players so we had to revamp the list Check out the new rankings for more surprises

Before I sign off here Id like to tell you something humorous that happened as a result of our last issue Brian Hawkes was on the cover It seems the cover (and Brian) made quite a hit with the girls Ed Martin club owner and entrepreneur extraordinaire told us that the single copy he had at his Incline Village club at Tahoe was passed around so many times among the gentle gender that he began to wonder whether it was becoming unsanishytary He turned his back for a moment though and it was gone Sprinting out to the parking lot he rushed up to a car that was just leaving the parking lot and sure enough there on the front seat sat the missing magazine Ed smiled and told her that it was his only copy and that he would need it back The woman blushed and confessed to Ed Oh Im sorry I took it But I couldnt help myself hes so CUTE

Ladies if you want a copy of the Sepshytember issue just give me a call (702shy329-4511) and Ill send you one bull

4

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I might be able to get a court door lock that turns and locks and then lays flat on the inside of the court Sincerely Jim Mapes

The place you need to contact is Stratshyford Industries Inc That company suppshylies almost all of the plastic laminate court doors in the US_ and they have the patent on the Goody Box that sits on the doors for balls and keys Replaceshyment hardware is also available such as the Flush Ring Pulls knobs closers etc Shipping takes two to three days Standmiddot ard court doors take two to three weeks They require prepayment For more information contact Stratford Industries Inc 2284 Paragon Drive San Jose CA 95131 or call 408middot263middot8686_ bull bull

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EDITORS COLUMN

The Pro Men Are Changing

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAD BOYS

Drew Stoddard Editor

f sports like people are a sumshytotal of their experience then mens professional racquetball

will be forever changed by the chaotic events of this past 18 months Some of that change is already becoming visible

Let me give a little background for those of you who have not been keeping up on the saga of the pro tour

It is no secret to anyone who has folshylowed the game over the last year-and-ashyhall that mens pro racquetball has been

floundering The last organized pro tour ended with the final stop of Charlie Drakes Catalina Invitational Tour in Chicago in May of 1983 That controshyversial tour broke down when certain manufacturers barred their players from signing contracts that would have ellecshytively given Drake total control over proshyfessional racquetball until 1989

Since that time various groups have been working feverishly to rebuild the game in an open format The most notashyble is the Racquetball Manufacturers Association (RMA) a group composed of top level executives representing the sports largest companies which is comshymitted to having a tour in place by Janushyary of 1985 Sources within the RMA insist the ellort is about to bear fruit In fact as I write this column meetings are being held in Anaheim and New York City to finalize plans for a three-year large-scale tour

For the last 18 months while that ellort has proceeded pro racquetball has existed only in the form of independently staged and funded tournaments Combined the prize money in those events has amounted to roughly one-third of what was paid ou~ during the last season of the Catalina tour

There is no question the sport in genshyeral has sullered for lack of a visible tour But the greatest impact has obviously been on the players themselves All pro players have seen their income levels drop dramatically a few of the top playshyers have been devastated There are fewer events to play less money to win and the future is still not certain

You might expect that all of this would have demoralized the men it would cershytainly be understandable And yet the precarious state of the pro game seems to have had a maturing ellect on the players

I recently returned from covering the first two independent tournaments of the

1984-85 season Davison Michigan and Stockton California Both were fine events-the competition was great and the outcome exciting (Both tournaments are covered later in this issue) But what really fascinated me was the behavior of the players themselves almost without exception they were congenial cooperashytive and well professional

Since it began mens pro racquetball has been infamous for the behavior of the players-Ive done my share of criticizing here in this column Over the years the players have earned the reputation of a pack of spoiled brats who were given so much for so long that they sullered from what I call SPCCL syndrome show-up play complain collect and leave Horshyror stories about the behavior of the pros both on and 011 the court abound

Heres an example of one story I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago when we interviewed Milton Radmilovich of the Japanese Racquetball Association

It seems that a few years back two of the top players in the mens game were invited to Japan to help spur the fledgling growth of racquetball in that country The Japanese were undertandably upset when the two showed up for a single exhibition match and then proceeded to play tourist for the rest of their stay Their hosts had reason to be upset for their ellorts the two players were paid all of their expenses and received an appearance fee of $10000

My how things have changed Three weeks ago 60 professional players showed up in Davison to play for a total purse of $10000 And almost everyone pitched in to help Jim Hiser make that tournament a success they refereed their own matches (thats right) they made themselves available to the press they socialized with the crowd and each other they showed up in force at the banquet

I

6

and for the most part they conducted themselves like gentlemen on the court

Ill tell you the truth there have been times when Ive been embarrassed just to admit I was associated with professional racquetball But by the time I left Davimiddot son [ was so proud of those guys I felt like [ would burst

So why the big change Simple Motivation

A spectator I was talking to during the quarterfinals in Davison asked this quesshytion What kind of an idiot spends $800 of his own money to fly to Davison play two matches and win $400 The answer I told him should be obvious someone who loves the game

The fact is that professional racquetball is rapidly becoming the domain of a new generation Probably three-quarters of the players in Davison never played pro ball during the glory days of the late sevenshyties They were not allowed to play on the Catalina tour in 81 and82 For many of them todays non-tour is the only pro game they have ever known And if there is one thing you can say with certainty about todays pro player it is that he is not playing strictly for the money

More importantly a good portion of the older generation-those responsible

for pro racquetballs bad reputationshyhave decided to call it quits Thats fortushynate for all of us I suspect that racquetshyball is not the first industry to demonstrate that if you take away the easy money the prima-donnas will go find something else to do _

I should mention that there are a coushyple of the older generation players who have stayed with the game and who have helped change player behavior for the better Specifically Marty Hogan and Mike Yellen the games top two players have served as excellent examples for the players coming up and are probably parshytially responsible for the overall change

Whatever the reason todays players seem to have realized correctly that if the pro game is to survive it will only do so on the strength of a sellable product Independent tournaments must be nurshytured Sponsors must be rewarded with non-controversial visibility And fans must become convinced that viewing a pro match will not ruin their children for life

I am quite convinced that professional racquetball is about to experience a rebirth Were going to get a second chance to sell our sport to the world Its good to know that this time around the product will match the promise bull

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NEWS AND NEW PRODUCTS

Notice to Computer Owners

We at International Racquetshyball are exploring the possibilishyties of publishing the magazine electronically as well as our regshyular print-and-mail service Electronic publishing would offer to our subscribers virtually instant access to the news of the sport of racquetball as well as past issues of the monthly magazine For example professional tournashyment results would be available immediately following each match The electronic magazine would be publsihed via one or more of the national database services such as Compuserve The Source or News Net

Currently we are trying to determine how many of our subshyscribers have access to personal or home computers with modems and how many would be interested in such a service which would carry a charge additional to the regular subshyscription fee

If you have access to such equipment and would be intershyested in our publishing electronshyically please dr0p us a line and let us know _ We would like to know what type of equipment you would be using (computer modem etc ) and which ifany of the national databases you already access

Please send responses and suggestions about this proposed service to

Drew Stoddard Editor International Racquetball PO_ Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510 Should you be interested in

contacting us electronically either for information about your subscription writing a letter to the editor or any other purpose we are currently set up to receive electronic mail at any of the folshy

lowing addresses Compuserve- 71 036 1320 The Source-BBN 159 Dow Jones MCI-203-2843 We will make a final determishy

nation on publishing e1ectronishycaly as soon as we are able to assess the current demand and

will inform our readers of our plans Drew Stoddard

Pro Toumaments Set

Dates have been finalized for the popular Schoebers Christmas Racquetball Classic The event will be held the weekend of December 6-9 1984 Prize money for the mens professional division has been tentatively set at $12 000 with prize money being offered also in the mens and womens open divisions

Again this year the tournashyment will be staged at the Schoebers club in Pleasanton CA The facility famous for its spectator court which has two walls constructed of white glass one of which is the front wall

For more information about the event contact

Bill Dunn or John O Donovan Schoebers Racquetball Spas 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Dates have also been set for

pro stops in Arizona (Arizona Athletic Club) in January and Cheyenne Wyoming (Rocky Mountain Health Club) in March (See schedule on page 4 )

AARA Institutes Referee Certification

The American Amateur Racquetball Association has adopted a National Referee Cershytification Program which is designed to improve and standshyardize officiating at tournaments throughout the country The program which involves instrucshytion and a written test is designed to be administered by local offishycials and state AARA organizers

For more information about the referee certification program contact the AARA in Colorado Springs or

Michael Arnolt 411 South Harbour Dr Noblesville IN 46060

Hogan Wins in Davison Marty Hogan gained back

his 1 ranking in menis professhysional racquetball by winning the Bud Light Open in Davison Michigan for his second conshy

secutive year Hogan defeated Scott Oliver in the final in four games 11-92-1111-5 11-4 It was the second time Hogan had defeated Oliver in the final of a ranking pro event the preshyvious time was in Beaverton OR in February

Oliver reached the final after beating Corey Brysman of Burshybank CA who had earlier upset defending national champion Mike Yellen in the round-of-16 (Story on page 18)

Gregg Peck Wins Stockton Fourth ranked Gregg Peck

won his first ranking professional tournament by winning the Michelob Light-Stockton ProshyAm at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton CA Peck won the tournament by crushing top-seeded Marty Hogan in three games 11 -9 11-2 11-3 The victory moved Peck up to the 3 position in the mens rankings Hogan remained 1 despite the loss

Hometown favorite Scott Oliver was upset in the round-ofshy16 by Evan Terry of Arizona Gerry Price of nearby Castro Valley upset 2 seed Dave Peck in the quarterfinals 11-2 11 -6 7-1111-7

Second ranked Mike Yellen did not enter the Stockton event (Story on page 26)

Adams Wins in Alaska Lynn Adams the 2 ranked

womens professional player won the Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball Classic at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage AK for her third consecutive year Adams downed Vicki Panzeri of Seattle in the final in three games 21-14 21-12 21 -6

The Anchorage tournament is a post -season invitational tournament for professional women and is not a WPRA ranking event (Story on page 34)

Ashaway Introduces Liberty String

Ashaway Line and Twine now offers a new 16 gauge (130 mm) racquet string for tennis squash and racquetball T enshy

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bull 8

PART FOUR IN A SERIES

~UE GRENIEST

by Jerry Hilecher

~-o-~-~

Greatest Variety of Game Plans I-Mike Yellen 2-Jerry Hilecher 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Dave Peck 5-Steve Strandemo

Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Marty Hogan 5-Steve Strandemo

When I first began thinking about the Greatest series over a year ago I thought the Most Consisshy

tent and Greatest Variety of Game Plans categories would be very separate After interviewing Mike Yellen at a recent pro stop and looking over the pros responses I see how similar they are With one exception the two lists are identical Marty Hogan is the only pure power player in either category With all the talk about power it is refreshing to see another side of racquetball Intelligent game plans and shot discipline are still key elements in the games of many top pros

Greatest Variety of Game Plans Mike Yellen

Mike Yellen surged to racquetball prominence at the age of 18 At the 1978 NRC Championships outside of Detroit I lost to Mike in the quarterfinals and he then went on to lose a very controversial match to Charlie Brumfield in the semis Mike showed an unbelievable amount of concentration and coolness characterisshytics which are trademarks of his game today

Mike suggests that his game style has developed through the coaching of Leonard Karpeles Leonard has masshytered squash and tennis in which he has been nationally ranked He also played professional football

Leonard Karpeles looks at each sport with the realization that there is a best way of doing things He feels many of the racquet sports are similar and emphasshyizes minimizing your mistakes proper court positioning and optimal shot selecshytion When talking to Leonard he was able to break racquetball down better than anyone I have ever talked to with the exception of Charlie Brumfield Leoshynard s philosophy is based on having an overall game philosophy of playng the entire game with a specific purpose He feels that a player should concentrate on

I

hitting high percentage shots and pressurshying their opponents by aggressive court I positioning This strategy should be played the length of the match not just at certain points

An opponents hot streak is like an elevator he says You know if it goes up sooner or later it will come back down

When asked about anticipation Leonard replied You dont anticipate where your opponent is going to hit the ball its knowledge Anticipation is guessshying You dont guess you know where the shot will go 80 of the time

Leonard looks at shot selection as hitshyting a high percentage shot that forces the opponent into a defensive position Since these shots are hit with a high percentage of success mistakes are rare

After the next half hour of Leonards fancy jargon and a lot of Xs and Os we finally got to the secret of Mikes success As Leonard pointed out He doesn t have to worry about his opponent or his game just that if he moves his feet hell be able to hit his shot Since Mike knows where his opponent is going to hit a shot 80 of the time as long as he moves his feet he will be able to hit a return that will put his opponent in a defensive position You can see why Mike has had such consistent success over his career

In playing Mike over the years I have noticed he has had very few off days Our close matches have often followed a familiar pattern Mike would generally start the match a little slow and off balshyance As the match would go on he would start reading my shots better and throwshying me off my game Points would be much harder to score and by the end of the match I would be exhausted wondershying what happened_

When talking to Mike I heard many of Leonards principles in different words I dont care who Im playing whether a power player like Hogan or a control player like Brumfield I won t try to beat them at their own game I play my style and let them adjust to me

Mike wont give an opponent an edge the player has to earn everything he gets If an opponent is winning Mike will genshyerally change the speed in his shots If he is missing offensive opportunities he will raise his traget zone until he gets his rhythm Most players when losing start going for broke hitting shots harder and lower than before Over the years many

9

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

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INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

If you think this funny-looking s~ makes a serious impression on the liill waitll you see your opponents face

Mad RaqTM is the only stringing arrangement in the world umque enough to have a lb~tntAnd oruy Omega it

Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

Mad Raq It looks different It plays with a difference

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

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--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

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- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

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RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

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of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

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EDITORS COLUMN

The Pro Men Are Changing

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAD BOYS

Drew Stoddard Editor

f sports like people are a sumshytotal of their experience then mens professional racquetball

will be forever changed by the chaotic events of this past 18 months Some of that change is already becoming visible

Let me give a little background for those of you who have not been keeping up on the saga of the pro tour

It is no secret to anyone who has folshylowed the game over the last year-and-ashyhall that mens pro racquetball has been

floundering The last organized pro tour ended with the final stop of Charlie Drakes Catalina Invitational Tour in Chicago in May of 1983 That controshyversial tour broke down when certain manufacturers barred their players from signing contracts that would have ellecshytively given Drake total control over proshyfessional racquetball until 1989

Since that time various groups have been working feverishly to rebuild the game in an open format The most notashyble is the Racquetball Manufacturers Association (RMA) a group composed of top level executives representing the sports largest companies which is comshymitted to having a tour in place by Janushyary of 1985 Sources within the RMA insist the ellort is about to bear fruit In fact as I write this column meetings are being held in Anaheim and New York City to finalize plans for a three-year large-scale tour

For the last 18 months while that ellort has proceeded pro racquetball has existed only in the form of independently staged and funded tournaments Combined the prize money in those events has amounted to roughly one-third of what was paid ou~ during the last season of the Catalina tour

There is no question the sport in genshyeral has sullered for lack of a visible tour But the greatest impact has obviously been on the players themselves All pro players have seen their income levels drop dramatically a few of the top playshyers have been devastated There are fewer events to play less money to win and the future is still not certain

You might expect that all of this would have demoralized the men it would cershytainly be understandable And yet the precarious state of the pro game seems to have had a maturing ellect on the players

I recently returned from covering the first two independent tournaments of the

1984-85 season Davison Michigan and Stockton California Both were fine events-the competition was great and the outcome exciting (Both tournaments are covered later in this issue) But what really fascinated me was the behavior of the players themselves almost without exception they were congenial cooperashytive and well professional

Since it began mens pro racquetball has been infamous for the behavior of the players-Ive done my share of criticizing here in this column Over the years the players have earned the reputation of a pack of spoiled brats who were given so much for so long that they sullered from what I call SPCCL syndrome show-up play complain collect and leave Horshyror stories about the behavior of the pros both on and 011 the court abound

Heres an example of one story I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago when we interviewed Milton Radmilovich of the Japanese Racquetball Association

It seems that a few years back two of the top players in the mens game were invited to Japan to help spur the fledgling growth of racquetball in that country The Japanese were undertandably upset when the two showed up for a single exhibition match and then proceeded to play tourist for the rest of their stay Their hosts had reason to be upset for their ellorts the two players were paid all of their expenses and received an appearance fee of $10000

My how things have changed Three weeks ago 60 professional players showed up in Davison to play for a total purse of $10000 And almost everyone pitched in to help Jim Hiser make that tournament a success they refereed their own matches (thats right) they made themselves available to the press they socialized with the crowd and each other they showed up in force at the banquet

I

6

and for the most part they conducted themselves like gentlemen on the court

Ill tell you the truth there have been times when Ive been embarrassed just to admit I was associated with professional racquetball But by the time I left Davimiddot son [ was so proud of those guys I felt like [ would burst

So why the big change Simple Motivation

A spectator I was talking to during the quarterfinals in Davison asked this quesshytion What kind of an idiot spends $800 of his own money to fly to Davison play two matches and win $400 The answer I told him should be obvious someone who loves the game

The fact is that professional racquetball is rapidly becoming the domain of a new generation Probably three-quarters of the players in Davison never played pro ball during the glory days of the late sevenshyties They were not allowed to play on the Catalina tour in 81 and82 For many of them todays non-tour is the only pro game they have ever known And if there is one thing you can say with certainty about todays pro player it is that he is not playing strictly for the money

More importantly a good portion of the older generation-those responsible

for pro racquetballs bad reputationshyhave decided to call it quits Thats fortushynate for all of us I suspect that racquetshyball is not the first industry to demonstrate that if you take away the easy money the prima-donnas will go find something else to do _

I should mention that there are a coushyple of the older generation players who have stayed with the game and who have helped change player behavior for the better Specifically Marty Hogan and Mike Yellen the games top two players have served as excellent examples for the players coming up and are probably parshytially responsible for the overall change

Whatever the reason todays players seem to have realized correctly that if the pro game is to survive it will only do so on the strength of a sellable product Independent tournaments must be nurshytured Sponsors must be rewarded with non-controversial visibility And fans must become convinced that viewing a pro match will not ruin their children for life

I am quite convinced that professional racquetball is about to experience a rebirth Were going to get a second chance to sell our sport to the world Its good to know that this time around the product will match the promise bull

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NEWS AND NEW PRODUCTS

Notice to Computer Owners

We at International Racquetshyball are exploring the possibilishyties of publishing the magazine electronically as well as our regshyular print-and-mail service Electronic publishing would offer to our subscribers virtually instant access to the news of the sport of racquetball as well as past issues of the monthly magazine For example professional tournashyment results would be available immediately following each match The electronic magazine would be publsihed via one or more of the national database services such as Compuserve The Source or News Net

Currently we are trying to determine how many of our subshyscribers have access to personal or home computers with modems and how many would be interested in such a service which would carry a charge additional to the regular subshyscription fee

If you have access to such equipment and would be intershyested in our publishing electronshyically please dr0p us a line and let us know _ We would like to know what type of equipment you would be using (computer modem etc ) and which ifany of the national databases you already access

Please send responses and suggestions about this proposed service to

Drew Stoddard Editor International Racquetball PO_ Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510 Should you be interested in

contacting us electronically either for information about your subscription writing a letter to the editor or any other purpose we are currently set up to receive electronic mail at any of the folshy

lowing addresses Compuserve- 71 036 1320 The Source-BBN 159 Dow Jones MCI-203-2843 We will make a final determishy

nation on publishing e1ectronishycaly as soon as we are able to assess the current demand and

will inform our readers of our plans Drew Stoddard

Pro Toumaments Set

Dates have been finalized for the popular Schoebers Christmas Racquetball Classic The event will be held the weekend of December 6-9 1984 Prize money for the mens professional division has been tentatively set at $12 000 with prize money being offered also in the mens and womens open divisions

Again this year the tournashyment will be staged at the Schoebers club in Pleasanton CA The facility famous for its spectator court which has two walls constructed of white glass one of which is the front wall

For more information about the event contact

Bill Dunn or John O Donovan Schoebers Racquetball Spas 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Dates have also been set for

pro stops in Arizona (Arizona Athletic Club) in January and Cheyenne Wyoming (Rocky Mountain Health Club) in March (See schedule on page 4 )

AARA Institutes Referee Certification

The American Amateur Racquetball Association has adopted a National Referee Cershytification Program which is designed to improve and standshyardize officiating at tournaments throughout the country The program which involves instrucshytion and a written test is designed to be administered by local offishycials and state AARA organizers

For more information about the referee certification program contact the AARA in Colorado Springs or

Michael Arnolt 411 South Harbour Dr Noblesville IN 46060

Hogan Wins in Davison Marty Hogan gained back

his 1 ranking in menis professhysional racquetball by winning the Bud Light Open in Davison Michigan for his second conshy

secutive year Hogan defeated Scott Oliver in the final in four games 11-92-1111-5 11-4 It was the second time Hogan had defeated Oliver in the final of a ranking pro event the preshyvious time was in Beaverton OR in February

Oliver reached the final after beating Corey Brysman of Burshybank CA who had earlier upset defending national champion Mike Yellen in the round-of-16 (Story on page 18)

Gregg Peck Wins Stockton Fourth ranked Gregg Peck

won his first ranking professional tournament by winning the Michelob Light-Stockton ProshyAm at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton CA Peck won the tournament by crushing top-seeded Marty Hogan in three games 11 -9 11-2 11-3 The victory moved Peck up to the 3 position in the mens rankings Hogan remained 1 despite the loss

Hometown favorite Scott Oliver was upset in the round-ofshy16 by Evan Terry of Arizona Gerry Price of nearby Castro Valley upset 2 seed Dave Peck in the quarterfinals 11-2 11 -6 7-1111-7

Second ranked Mike Yellen did not enter the Stockton event (Story on page 26)

Adams Wins in Alaska Lynn Adams the 2 ranked

womens professional player won the Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball Classic at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage AK for her third consecutive year Adams downed Vicki Panzeri of Seattle in the final in three games 21-14 21-12 21 -6

The Anchorage tournament is a post -season invitational tournament for professional women and is not a WPRA ranking event (Story on page 34)

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bull 8

PART FOUR IN A SERIES

~UE GRENIEST

by Jerry Hilecher

~-o-~-~

Greatest Variety of Game Plans I-Mike Yellen 2-Jerry Hilecher 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Dave Peck 5-Steve Strandemo

Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Marty Hogan 5-Steve Strandemo

When I first began thinking about the Greatest series over a year ago I thought the Most Consisshy

tent and Greatest Variety of Game Plans categories would be very separate After interviewing Mike Yellen at a recent pro stop and looking over the pros responses I see how similar they are With one exception the two lists are identical Marty Hogan is the only pure power player in either category With all the talk about power it is refreshing to see another side of racquetball Intelligent game plans and shot discipline are still key elements in the games of many top pros

Greatest Variety of Game Plans Mike Yellen

Mike Yellen surged to racquetball prominence at the age of 18 At the 1978 NRC Championships outside of Detroit I lost to Mike in the quarterfinals and he then went on to lose a very controversial match to Charlie Brumfield in the semis Mike showed an unbelievable amount of concentration and coolness characterisshytics which are trademarks of his game today

Mike suggests that his game style has developed through the coaching of Leonard Karpeles Leonard has masshytered squash and tennis in which he has been nationally ranked He also played professional football

Leonard Karpeles looks at each sport with the realization that there is a best way of doing things He feels many of the racquet sports are similar and emphasshyizes minimizing your mistakes proper court positioning and optimal shot selecshytion When talking to Leonard he was able to break racquetball down better than anyone I have ever talked to with the exception of Charlie Brumfield Leoshynard s philosophy is based on having an overall game philosophy of playng the entire game with a specific purpose He feels that a player should concentrate on

I

hitting high percentage shots and pressurshying their opponents by aggressive court I positioning This strategy should be played the length of the match not just at certain points

An opponents hot streak is like an elevator he says You know if it goes up sooner or later it will come back down

When asked about anticipation Leonard replied You dont anticipate where your opponent is going to hit the ball its knowledge Anticipation is guessshying You dont guess you know where the shot will go 80 of the time

Leonard looks at shot selection as hitshyting a high percentage shot that forces the opponent into a defensive position Since these shots are hit with a high percentage of success mistakes are rare

After the next half hour of Leonards fancy jargon and a lot of Xs and Os we finally got to the secret of Mikes success As Leonard pointed out He doesn t have to worry about his opponent or his game just that if he moves his feet hell be able to hit his shot Since Mike knows where his opponent is going to hit a shot 80 of the time as long as he moves his feet he will be able to hit a return that will put his opponent in a defensive position You can see why Mike has had such consistent success over his career

In playing Mike over the years I have noticed he has had very few off days Our close matches have often followed a familiar pattern Mike would generally start the match a little slow and off balshyance As the match would go on he would start reading my shots better and throwshying me off my game Points would be much harder to score and by the end of the match I would be exhausted wondershying what happened_

When talking to Mike I heard many of Leonards principles in different words I dont care who Im playing whether a power player like Hogan or a control player like Brumfield I won t try to beat them at their own game I play my style and let them adjust to me

Mike wont give an opponent an edge the player has to earn everything he gets If an opponent is winning Mike will genshyerally change the speed in his shots If he is missing offensive opportunities he will raise his traget zone until he gets his rhythm Most players when losing start going for broke hitting shots harder and lower than before Over the years many

9

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

10

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INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

If you think this funny-looking s~ makes a serious impression on the liill waitll you see your opponents face

Mad RaqTM is the only stringing arrangement in the world umque enough to have a lb~tntAnd oruy Omega it

Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

Mad Raq It looks different It plays with a difference

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

~ bullPenn is a registered trademark of the Penn AthletiC Producls Company Keeping you ahead of the gametrade

--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

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RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

EDITORS COLUMN

The Pro Men Are Changing

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAD BOYS

Drew Stoddard Editor

f sports like people are a sumshytotal of their experience then mens professional racquetball

will be forever changed by the chaotic events of this past 18 months Some of that change is already becoming visible

Let me give a little background for those of you who have not been keeping up on the saga of the pro tour

It is no secret to anyone who has folshylowed the game over the last year-and-ashyhall that mens pro racquetball has been

floundering The last organized pro tour ended with the final stop of Charlie Drakes Catalina Invitational Tour in Chicago in May of 1983 That controshyversial tour broke down when certain manufacturers barred their players from signing contracts that would have ellecshytively given Drake total control over proshyfessional racquetball until 1989

Since that time various groups have been working feverishly to rebuild the game in an open format The most notashyble is the Racquetball Manufacturers Association (RMA) a group composed of top level executives representing the sports largest companies which is comshymitted to having a tour in place by Janushyary of 1985 Sources within the RMA insist the ellort is about to bear fruit In fact as I write this column meetings are being held in Anaheim and New York City to finalize plans for a three-year large-scale tour

For the last 18 months while that ellort has proceeded pro racquetball has existed only in the form of independently staged and funded tournaments Combined the prize money in those events has amounted to roughly one-third of what was paid ou~ during the last season of the Catalina tour

There is no question the sport in genshyeral has sullered for lack of a visible tour But the greatest impact has obviously been on the players themselves All pro players have seen their income levels drop dramatically a few of the top playshyers have been devastated There are fewer events to play less money to win and the future is still not certain

You might expect that all of this would have demoralized the men it would cershytainly be understandable And yet the precarious state of the pro game seems to have had a maturing ellect on the players

I recently returned from covering the first two independent tournaments of the

1984-85 season Davison Michigan and Stockton California Both were fine events-the competition was great and the outcome exciting (Both tournaments are covered later in this issue) But what really fascinated me was the behavior of the players themselves almost without exception they were congenial cooperashytive and well professional

Since it began mens pro racquetball has been infamous for the behavior of the players-Ive done my share of criticizing here in this column Over the years the players have earned the reputation of a pack of spoiled brats who were given so much for so long that they sullered from what I call SPCCL syndrome show-up play complain collect and leave Horshyror stories about the behavior of the pros both on and 011 the court abound

Heres an example of one story I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago when we interviewed Milton Radmilovich of the Japanese Racquetball Association

It seems that a few years back two of the top players in the mens game were invited to Japan to help spur the fledgling growth of racquetball in that country The Japanese were undertandably upset when the two showed up for a single exhibition match and then proceeded to play tourist for the rest of their stay Their hosts had reason to be upset for their ellorts the two players were paid all of their expenses and received an appearance fee of $10000

My how things have changed Three weeks ago 60 professional players showed up in Davison to play for a total purse of $10000 And almost everyone pitched in to help Jim Hiser make that tournament a success they refereed their own matches (thats right) they made themselves available to the press they socialized with the crowd and each other they showed up in force at the banquet

I

6

and for the most part they conducted themselves like gentlemen on the court

Ill tell you the truth there have been times when Ive been embarrassed just to admit I was associated with professional racquetball But by the time I left Davimiddot son [ was so proud of those guys I felt like [ would burst

So why the big change Simple Motivation

A spectator I was talking to during the quarterfinals in Davison asked this quesshytion What kind of an idiot spends $800 of his own money to fly to Davison play two matches and win $400 The answer I told him should be obvious someone who loves the game

The fact is that professional racquetball is rapidly becoming the domain of a new generation Probably three-quarters of the players in Davison never played pro ball during the glory days of the late sevenshyties They were not allowed to play on the Catalina tour in 81 and82 For many of them todays non-tour is the only pro game they have ever known And if there is one thing you can say with certainty about todays pro player it is that he is not playing strictly for the money

More importantly a good portion of the older generation-those responsible

for pro racquetballs bad reputationshyhave decided to call it quits Thats fortushynate for all of us I suspect that racquetshyball is not the first industry to demonstrate that if you take away the easy money the prima-donnas will go find something else to do _

I should mention that there are a coushyple of the older generation players who have stayed with the game and who have helped change player behavior for the better Specifically Marty Hogan and Mike Yellen the games top two players have served as excellent examples for the players coming up and are probably parshytially responsible for the overall change

Whatever the reason todays players seem to have realized correctly that if the pro game is to survive it will only do so on the strength of a sellable product Independent tournaments must be nurshytured Sponsors must be rewarded with non-controversial visibility And fans must become convinced that viewing a pro match will not ruin their children for life

I am quite convinced that professional racquetball is about to experience a rebirth Were going to get a second chance to sell our sport to the world Its good to know that this time around the product will match the promise bull

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NEWS AND NEW PRODUCTS

Notice to Computer Owners

We at International Racquetshyball are exploring the possibilishyties of publishing the magazine electronically as well as our regshyular print-and-mail service Electronic publishing would offer to our subscribers virtually instant access to the news of the sport of racquetball as well as past issues of the monthly magazine For example professional tournashyment results would be available immediately following each match The electronic magazine would be publsihed via one or more of the national database services such as Compuserve The Source or News Net

Currently we are trying to determine how many of our subshyscribers have access to personal or home computers with modems and how many would be interested in such a service which would carry a charge additional to the regular subshyscription fee

If you have access to such equipment and would be intershyested in our publishing electronshyically please dr0p us a line and let us know _ We would like to know what type of equipment you would be using (computer modem etc ) and which ifany of the national databases you already access

Please send responses and suggestions about this proposed service to

Drew Stoddard Editor International Racquetball PO_ Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510 Should you be interested in

contacting us electronically either for information about your subscription writing a letter to the editor or any other purpose we are currently set up to receive electronic mail at any of the folshy

lowing addresses Compuserve- 71 036 1320 The Source-BBN 159 Dow Jones MCI-203-2843 We will make a final determishy

nation on publishing e1ectronishycaly as soon as we are able to assess the current demand and

will inform our readers of our plans Drew Stoddard

Pro Toumaments Set

Dates have been finalized for the popular Schoebers Christmas Racquetball Classic The event will be held the weekend of December 6-9 1984 Prize money for the mens professional division has been tentatively set at $12 000 with prize money being offered also in the mens and womens open divisions

Again this year the tournashyment will be staged at the Schoebers club in Pleasanton CA The facility famous for its spectator court which has two walls constructed of white glass one of which is the front wall

For more information about the event contact

Bill Dunn or John O Donovan Schoebers Racquetball Spas 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Dates have also been set for

pro stops in Arizona (Arizona Athletic Club) in January and Cheyenne Wyoming (Rocky Mountain Health Club) in March (See schedule on page 4 )

AARA Institutes Referee Certification

The American Amateur Racquetball Association has adopted a National Referee Cershytification Program which is designed to improve and standshyardize officiating at tournaments throughout the country The program which involves instrucshytion and a written test is designed to be administered by local offishycials and state AARA organizers

For more information about the referee certification program contact the AARA in Colorado Springs or

Michael Arnolt 411 South Harbour Dr Noblesville IN 46060

Hogan Wins in Davison Marty Hogan gained back

his 1 ranking in menis professhysional racquetball by winning the Bud Light Open in Davison Michigan for his second conshy

secutive year Hogan defeated Scott Oliver in the final in four games 11-92-1111-5 11-4 It was the second time Hogan had defeated Oliver in the final of a ranking pro event the preshyvious time was in Beaverton OR in February

Oliver reached the final after beating Corey Brysman of Burshybank CA who had earlier upset defending national champion Mike Yellen in the round-of-16 (Story on page 18)

Gregg Peck Wins Stockton Fourth ranked Gregg Peck

won his first ranking professional tournament by winning the Michelob Light-Stockton ProshyAm at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton CA Peck won the tournament by crushing top-seeded Marty Hogan in three games 11 -9 11-2 11-3 The victory moved Peck up to the 3 position in the mens rankings Hogan remained 1 despite the loss

Hometown favorite Scott Oliver was upset in the round-ofshy16 by Evan Terry of Arizona Gerry Price of nearby Castro Valley upset 2 seed Dave Peck in the quarterfinals 11-2 11 -6 7-1111-7

Second ranked Mike Yellen did not enter the Stockton event (Story on page 26)

Adams Wins in Alaska Lynn Adams the 2 ranked

womens professional player won the Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball Classic at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage AK for her third consecutive year Adams downed Vicki Panzeri of Seattle in the final in three games 21-14 21-12 21 -6

The Anchorage tournament is a post -season invitational tournament for professional women and is not a WPRA ranking event (Story on page 34)

Ashaway Introduces Liberty String

Ashaway Line and Twine now offers a new 16 gauge (130 mm) racquet string for tennis squash and racquetball T enshy

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bull 8

PART FOUR IN A SERIES

~UE GRENIEST

by Jerry Hilecher

~-o-~-~

Greatest Variety of Game Plans I-Mike Yellen 2-Jerry Hilecher 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Dave Peck 5-Steve Strandemo

Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Marty Hogan 5-Steve Strandemo

When I first began thinking about the Greatest series over a year ago I thought the Most Consisshy

tent and Greatest Variety of Game Plans categories would be very separate After interviewing Mike Yellen at a recent pro stop and looking over the pros responses I see how similar they are With one exception the two lists are identical Marty Hogan is the only pure power player in either category With all the talk about power it is refreshing to see another side of racquetball Intelligent game plans and shot discipline are still key elements in the games of many top pros

Greatest Variety of Game Plans Mike Yellen

Mike Yellen surged to racquetball prominence at the age of 18 At the 1978 NRC Championships outside of Detroit I lost to Mike in the quarterfinals and he then went on to lose a very controversial match to Charlie Brumfield in the semis Mike showed an unbelievable amount of concentration and coolness characterisshytics which are trademarks of his game today

Mike suggests that his game style has developed through the coaching of Leonard Karpeles Leonard has masshytered squash and tennis in which he has been nationally ranked He also played professional football

Leonard Karpeles looks at each sport with the realization that there is a best way of doing things He feels many of the racquet sports are similar and emphasshyizes minimizing your mistakes proper court positioning and optimal shot selecshytion When talking to Leonard he was able to break racquetball down better than anyone I have ever talked to with the exception of Charlie Brumfield Leoshynard s philosophy is based on having an overall game philosophy of playng the entire game with a specific purpose He feels that a player should concentrate on

I

hitting high percentage shots and pressurshying their opponents by aggressive court I positioning This strategy should be played the length of the match not just at certain points

An opponents hot streak is like an elevator he says You know if it goes up sooner or later it will come back down

When asked about anticipation Leonard replied You dont anticipate where your opponent is going to hit the ball its knowledge Anticipation is guessshying You dont guess you know where the shot will go 80 of the time

Leonard looks at shot selection as hitshyting a high percentage shot that forces the opponent into a defensive position Since these shots are hit with a high percentage of success mistakes are rare

After the next half hour of Leonards fancy jargon and a lot of Xs and Os we finally got to the secret of Mikes success As Leonard pointed out He doesn t have to worry about his opponent or his game just that if he moves his feet hell be able to hit his shot Since Mike knows where his opponent is going to hit a shot 80 of the time as long as he moves his feet he will be able to hit a return that will put his opponent in a defensive position You can see why Mike has had such consistent success over his career

In playing Mike over the years I have noticed he has had very few off days Our close matches have often followed a familiar pattern Mike would generally start the match a little slow and off balshyance As the match would go on he would start reading my shots better and throwshying me off my game Points would be much harder to score and by the end of the match I would be exhausted wondershying what happened_

When talking to Mike I heard many of Leonards principles in different words I dont care who Im playing whether a power player like Hogan or a control player like Brumfield I won t try to beat them at their own game I play my style and let them adjust to me

Mike wont give an opponent an edge the player has to earn everything he gets If an opponent is winning Mike will genshyerally change the speed in his shots If he is missing offensive opportunities he will raise his traget zone until he gets his rhythm Most players when losing start going for broke hitting shots harder and lower than before Over the years many

9

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

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INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

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Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

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Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

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--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

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- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

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A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

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Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

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- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

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far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

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~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

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Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

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In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

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important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

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and for the most part they conducted themselves like gentlemen on the court

Ill tell you the truth there have been times when Ive been embarrassed just to admit I was associated with professional racquetball But by the time I left Davimiddot son [ was so proud of those guys I felt like [ would burst

So why the big change Simple Motivation

A spectator I was talking to during the quarterfinals in Davison asked this quesshytion What kind of an idiot spends $800 of his own money to fly to Davison play two matches and win $400 The answer I told him should be obvious someone who loves the game

The fact is that professional racquetball is rapidly becoming the domain of a new generation Probably three-quarters of the players in Davison never played pro ball during the glory days of the late sevenshyties They were not allowed to play on the Catalina tour in 81 and82 For many of them todays non-tour is the only pro game they have ever known And if there is one thing you can say with certainty about todays pro player it is that he is not playing strictly for the money

More importantly a good portion of the older generation-those responsible

for pro racquetballs bad reputationshyhave decided to call it quits Thats fortushynate for all of us I suspect that racquetshyball is not the first industry to demonstrate that if you take away the easy money the prima-donnas will go find something else to do _

I should mention that there are a coushyple of the older generation players who have stayed with the game and who have helped change player behavior for the better Specifically Marty Hogan and Mike Yellen the games top two players have served as excellent examples for the players coming up and are probably parshytially responsible for the overall change

Whatever the reason todays players seem to have realized correctly that if the pro game is to survive it will only do so on the strength of a sellable product Independent tournaments must be nurshytured Sponsors must be rewarded with non-controversial visibility And fans must become convinced that viewing a pro match will not ruin their children for life

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NEWS AND NEW PRODUCTS

Notice to Computer Owners

We at International Racquetshyball are exploring the possibilishyties of publishing the magazine electronically as well as our regshyular print-and-mail service Electronic publishing would offer to our subscribers virtually instant access to the news of the sport of racquetball as well as past issues of the monthly magazine For example professional tournashyment results would be available immediately following each match The electronic magazine would be publsihed via one or more of the national database services such as Compuserve The Source or News Net

Currently we are trying to determine how many of our subshyscribers have access to personal or home computers with modems and how many would be interested in such a service which would carry a charge additional to the regular subshyscription fee

If you have access to such equipment and would be intershyested in our publishing electronshyically please dr0p us a line and let us know _ We would like to know what type of equipment you would be using (computer modem etc ) and which ifany of the national databases you already access

Please send responses and suggestions about this proposed service to

Drew Stoddard Editor International Racquetball PO_ Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510 Should you be interested in

contacting us electronically either for information about your subscription writing a letter to the editor or any other purpose we are currently set up to receive electronic mail at any of the folshy

lowing addresses Compuserve- 71 036 1320 The Source-BBN 159 Dow Jones MCI-203-2843 We will make a final determishy

nation on publishing e1ectronishycaly as soon as we are able to assess the current demand and

will inform our readers of our plans Drew Stoddard

Pro Toumaments Set

Dates have been finalized for the popular Schoebers Christmas Racquetball Classic The event will be held the weekend of December 6-9 1984 Prize money for the mens professional division has been tentatively set at $12 000 with prize money being offered also in the mens and womens open divisions

Again this year the tournashyment will be staged at the Schoebers club in Pleasanton CA The facility famous for its spectator court which has two walls constructed of white glass one of which is the front wall

For more information about the event contact

Bill Dunn or John O Donovan Schoebers Racquetball Spas 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Dates have also been set for

pro stops in Arizona (Arizona Athletic Club) in January and Cheyenne Wyoming (Rocky Mountain Health Club) in March (See schedule on page 4 )

AARA Institutes Referee Certification

The American Amateur Racquetball Association has adopted a National Referee Cershytification Program which is designed to improve and standshyardize officiating at tournaments throughout the country The program which involves instrucshytion and a written test is designed to be administered by local offishycials and state AARA organizers

For more information about the referee certification program contact the AARA in Colorado Springs or

Michael Arnolt 411 South Harbour Dr Noblesville IN 46060

Hogan Wins in Davison Marty Hogan gained back

his 1 ranking in menis professhysional racquetball by winning the Bud Light Open in Davison Michigan for his second conshy

secutive year Hogan defeated Scott Oliver in the final in four games 11-92-1111-5 11-4 It was the second time Hogan had defeated Oliver in the final of a ranking pro event the preshyvious time was in Beaverton OR in February

Oliver reached the final after beating Corey Brysman of Burshybank CA who had earlier upset defending national champion Mike Yellen in the round-of-16 (Story on page 18)

Gregg Peck Wins Stockton Fourth ranked Gregg Peck

won his first ranking professional tournament by winning the Michelob Light-Stockton ProshyAm at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton CA Peck won the tournament by crushing top-seeded Marty Hogan in three games 11 -9 11-2 11-3 The victory moved Peck up to the 3 position in the mens rankings Hogan remained 1 despite the loss

Hometown favorite Scott Oliver was upset in the round-ofshy16 by Evan Terry of Arizona Gerry Price of nearby Castro Valley upset 2 seed Dave Peck in the quarterfinals 11-2 11 -6 7-1111-7

Second ranked Mike Yellen did not enter the Stockton event (Story on page 26)

Adams Wins in Alaska Lynn Adams the 2 ranked

womens professional player won the Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball Classic at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage AK for her third consecutive year Adams downed Vicki Panzeri of Seattle in the final in three games 21-14 21-12 21 -6

The Anchorage tournament is a post -season invitational tournament for professional women and is not a WPRA ranking event (Story on page 34)

Ashaway Introduces Liberty String

Ashaway Line and Twine now offers a new 16 gauge (130 mm) racquet string for tennis squash and racquetball T enshy

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bull 8

PART FOUR IN A SERIES

~UE GRENIEST

by Jerry Hilecher

~-o-~-~

Greatest Variety of Game Plans I-Mike Yellen 2-Jerry Hilecher 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Dave Peck 5-Steve Strandemo

Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Marty Hogan 5-Steve Strandemo

When I first began thinking about the Greatest series over a year ago I thought the Most Consisshy

tent and Greatest Variety of Game Plans categories would be very separate After interviewing Mike Yellen at a recent pro stop and looking over the pros responses I see how similar they are With one exception the two lists are identical Marty Hogan is the only pure power player in either category With all the talk about power it is refreshing to see another side of racquetball Intelligent game plans and shot discipline are still key elements in the games of many top pros

Greatest Variety of Game Plans Mike Yellen

Mike Yellen surged to racquetball prominence at the age of 18 At the 1978 NRC Championships outside of Detroit I lost to Mike in the quarterfinals and he then went on to lose a very controversial match to Charlie Brumfield in the semis Mike showed an unbelievable amount of concentration and coolness characterisshytics which are trademarks of his game today

Mike suggests that his game style has developed through the coaching of Leonard Karpeles Leonard has masshytered squash and tennis in which he has been nationally ranked He also played professional football

Leonard Karpeles looks at each sport with the realization that there is a best way of doing things He feels many of the racquet sports are similar and emphasshyizes minimizing your mistakes proper court positioning and optimal shot selecshytion When talking to Leonard he was able to break racquetball down better than anyone I have ever talked to with the exception of Charlie Brumfield Leoshynard s philosophy is based on having an overall game philosophy of playng the entire game with a specific purpose He feels that a player should concentrate on

I

hitting high percentage shots and pressurshying their opponents by aggressive court I positioning This strategy should be played the length of the match not just at certain points

An opponents hot streak is like an elevator he says You know if it goes up sooner or later it will come back down

When asked about anticipation Leonard replied You dont anticipate where your opponent is going to hit the ball its knowledge Anticipation is guessshying You dont guess you know where the shot will go 80 of the time

Leonard looks at shot selection as hitshyting a high percentage shot that forces the opponent into a defensive position Since these shots are hit with a high percentage of success mistakes are rare

After the next half hour of Leonards fancy jargon and a lot of Xs and Os we finally got to the secret of Mikes success As Leonard pointed out He doesn t have to worry about his opponent or his game just that if he moves his feet hell be able to hit his shot Since Mike knows where his opponent is going to hit a shot 80 of the time as long as he moves his feet he will be able to hit a return that will put his opponent in a defensive position You can see why Mike has had such consistent success over his career

In playing Mike over the years I have noticed he has had very few off days Our close matches have often followed a familiar pattern Mike would generally start the match a little slow and off balshyance As the match would go on he would start reading my shots better and throwshying me off my game Points would be much harder to score and by the end of the match I would be exhausted wondershying what happened_

When talking to Mike I heard many of Leonards principles in different words I dont care who Im playing whether a power player like Hogan or a control player like Brumfield I won t try to beat them at their own game I play my style and let them adjust to me

Mike wont give an opponent an edge the player has to earn everything he gets If an opponent is winning Mike will genshyerally change the speed in his shots If he is missing offensive opportunities he will raise his traget zone until he gets his rhythm Most players when losing start going for broke hitting shots harder and lower than before Over the years many

9

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

10

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INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

If you think this funny-looking s~ makes a serious impression on the liill waitll you see your opponents face

Mad RaqTM is the only stringing arrangement in the world umque enough to have a lb~tntAnd oruy Omega it

Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

Mad Raq It looks different It plays with a difference

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

~ bullPenn is a registered trademark of the Penn AthletiC Producls Company Keeping you ahead of the gametrade

--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

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RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

NEWS AND NEW PRODUCTS

Notice to Computer Owners

We at International Racquetshyball are exploring the possibilishyties of publishing the magazine electronically as well as our regshyular print-and-mail service Electronic publishing would offer to our subscribers virtually instant access to the news of the sport of racquetball as well as past issues of the monthly magazine For example professional tournashyment results would be available immediately following each match The electronic magazine would be publsihed via one or more of the national database services such as Compuserve The Source or News Net

Currently we are trying to determine how many of our subshyscribers have access to personal or home computers with modems and how many would be interested in such a service which would carry a charge additional to the regular subshyscription fee

If you have access to such equipment and would be intershyested in our publishing electronshyically please dr0p us a line and let us know _ We would like to know what type of equipment you would be using (computer modem etc ) and which ifany of the national databases you already access

Please send responses and suggestions about this proposed service to

Drew Stoddard Editor International Racquetball PO_ Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510 Should you be interested in

contacting us electronically either for information about your subscription writing a letter to the editor or any other purpose we are currently set up to receive electronic mail at any of the folshy

lowing addresses Compuserve- 71 036 1320 The Source-BBN 159 Dow Jones MCI-203-2843 We will make a final determishy

nation on publishing e1ectronishycaly as soon as we are able to assess the current demand and

will inform our readers of our plans Drew Stoddard

Pro Toumaments Set

Dates have been finalized for the popular Schoebers Christmas Racquetball Classic The event will be held the weekend of December 6-9 1984 Prize money for the mens professional division has been tentatively set at $12 000 with prize money being offered also in the mens and womens open divisions

Again this year the tournashyment will be staged at the Schoebers club in Pleasanton CA The facility famous for its spectator court which has two walls constructed of white glass one of which is the front wall

For more information about the event contact

Bill Dunn or John O Donovan Schoebers Racquetball Spas 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Dates have also been set for

pro stops in Arizona (Arizona Athletic Club) in January and Cheyenne Wyoming (Rocky Mountain Health Club) in March (See schedule on page 4 )

AARA Institutes Referee Certification

The American Amateur Racquetball Association has adopted a National Referee Cershytification Program which is designed to improve and standshyardize officiating at tournaments throughout the country The program which involves instrucshytion and a written test is designed to be administered by local offishycials and state AARA organizers

For more information about the referee certification program contact the AARA in Colorado Springs or

Michael Arnolt 411 South Harbour Dr Noblesville IN 46060

Hogan Wins in Davison Marty Hogan gained back

his 1 ranking in menis professhysional racquetball by winning the Bud Light Open in Davison Michigan for his second conshy

secutive year Hogan defeated Scott Oliver in the final in four games 11-92-1111-5 11-4 It was the second time Hogan had defeated Oliver in the final of a ranking pro event the preshyvious time was in Beaverton OR in February

Oliver reached the final after beating Corey Brysman of Burshybank CA who had earlier upset defending national champion Mike Yellen in the round-of-16 (Story on page 18)

Gregg Peck Wins Stockton Fourth ranked Gregg Peck

won his first ranking professional tournament by winning the Michelob Light-Stockton ProshyAm at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton CA Peck won the tournament by crushing top-seeded Marty Hogan in three games 11 -9 11-2 11-3 The victory moved Peck up to the 3 position in the mens rankings Hogan remained 1 despite the loss

Hometown favorite Scott Oliver was upset in the round-ofshy16 by Evan Terry of Arizona Gerry Price of nearby Castro Valley upset 2 seed Dave Peck in the quarterfinals 11-2 11 -6 7-1111-7

Second ranked Mike Yellen did not enter the Stockton event (Story on page 26)

Adams Wins in Alaska Lynn Adams the 2 ranked

womens professional player won the Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball Classic at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage AK for her third consecutive year Adams downed Vicki Panzeri of Seattle in the final in three games 21-14 21-12 21 -6

The Anchorage tournament is a post -season invitational tournament for professional women and is not a WPRA ranking event (Story on page 34)

Ashaway Introduces Liberty String

Ashaway Line and Twine now offers a new 16 gauge (130 mm) racquet string for tennis squash and racquetball T enshy

sile strength is over 100 lbs This economical Americanshymade string is constructed with fift een nylon filaments chemishycally bonded to a strong nylon core then coated with a tough wear-layer LIBERTYs nylon phenol resin keeps the string from prematurely fraying Availshyable in black gold and natural in reels and sets

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The 89~ Fashion Head Band

Unique Sports introduces FASHION BAND the narrow head band Packaged one to a poly bag they come in all the fashion colors from lavender to pink to basic white This is a very comfortable yet practical headband Made of 94 cotton and 6 elastic to absorb sweat and hold your hair in place Suggested retail is 89cent Availashyble from

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bull 8

PART FOUR IN A SERIES

~UE GRENIEST

by Jerry Hilecher

~-o-~-~

Greatest Variety of Game Plans I-Mike Yellen 2-Jerry Hilecher 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Dave Peck 5-Steve Strandemo

Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Marty Hogan 5-Steve Strandemo

When I first began thinking about the Greatest series over a year ago I thought the Most Consisshy

tent and Greatest Variety of Game Plans categories would be very separate After interviewing Mike Yellen at a recent pro stop and looking over the pros responses I see how similar they are With one exception the two lists are identical Marty Hogan is the only pure power player in either category With all the talk about power it is refreshing to see another side of racquetball Intelligent game plans and shot discipline are still key elements in the games of many top pros

Greatest Variety of Game Plans Mike Yellen

Mike Yellen surged to racquetball prominence at the age of 18 At the 1978 NRC Championships outside of Detroit I lost to Mike in the quarterfinals and he then went on to lose a very controversial match to Charlie Brumfield in the semis Mike showed an unbelievable amount of concentration and coolness characterisshytics which are trademarks of his game today

Mike suggests that his game style has developed through the coaching of Leonard Karpeles Leonard has masshytered squash and tennis in which he has been nationally ranked He also played professional football

Leonard Karpeles looks at each sport with the realization that there is a best way of doing things He feels many of the racquet sports are similar and emphasshyizes minimizing your mistakes proper court positioning and optimal shot selecshytion When talking to Leonard he was able to break racquetball down better than anyone I have ever talked to with the exception of Charlie Brumfield Leoshynard s philosophy is based on having an overall game philosophy of playng the entire game with a specific purpose He feels that a player should concentrate on

I

hitting high percentage shots and pressurshying their opponents by aggressive court I positioning This strategy should be played the length of the match not just at certain points

An opponents hot streak is like an elevator he says You know if it goes up sooner or later it will come back down

When asked about anticipation Leonard replied You dont anticipate where your opponent is going to hit the ball its knowledge Anticipation is guessshying You dont guess you know where the shot will go 80 of the time

Leonard looks at shot selection as hitshyting a high percentage shot that forces the opponent into a defensive position Since these shots are hit with a high percentage of success mistakes are rare

After the next half hour of Leonards fancy jargon and a lot of Xs and Os we finally got to the secret of Mikes success As Leonard pointed out He doesn t have to worry about his opponent or his game just that if he moves his feet hell be able to hit his shot Since Mike knows where his opponent is going to hit a shot 80 of the time as long as he moves his feet he will be able to hit a return that will put his opponent in a defensive position You can see why Mike has had such consistent success over his career

In playing Mike over the years I have noticed he has had very few off days Our close matches have often followed a familiar pattern Mike would generally start the match a little slow and off balshyance As the match would go on he would start reading my shots better and throwshying me off my game Points would be much harder to score and by the end of the match I would be exhausted wondershying what happened_

When talking to Mike I heard many of Leonards principles in different words I dont care who Im playing whether a power player like Hogan or a control player like Brumfield I won t try to beat them at their own game I play my style and let them adjust to me

Mike wont give an opponent an edge the player has to earn everything he gets If an opponent is winning Mike will genshyerally change the speed in his shots If he is missing offensive opportunities he will raise his traget zone until he gets his rhythm Most players when losing start going for broke hitting shots harder and lower than before Over the years many

9

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

10

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j

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INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

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The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

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Mad Raq It looks different It plays with a difference

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

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- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

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Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

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of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

PART FOUR IN A SERIES

~UE GRENIEST

by Jerry Hilecher

~-o-~-~

Greatest Variety of Game Plans I-Mike Yellen 2-Jerry Hilecher 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Dave Peck 5-Steve Strandemo

Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3 -Charlie Brumfield 4-Marty Hogan 5-Steve Strandemo

When I first began thinking about the Greatest series over a year ago I thought the Most Consisshy

tent and Greatest Variety of Game Plans categories would be very separate After interviewing Mike Yellen at a recent pro stop and looking over the pros responses I see how similar they are With one exception the two lists are identical Marty Hogan is the only pure power player in either category With all the talk about power it is refreshing to see another side of racquetball Intelligent game plans and shot discipline are still key elements in the games of many top pros

Greatest Variety of Game Plans Mike Yellen

Mike Yellen surged to racquetball prominence at the age of 18 At the 1978 NRC Championships outside of Detroit I lost to Mike in the quarterfinals and he then went on to lose a very controversial match to Charlie Brumfield in the semis Mike showed an unbelievable amount of concentration and coolness characterisshytics which are trademarks of his game today

Mike suggests that his game style has developed through the coaching of Leonard Karpeles Leonard has masshytered squash and tennis in which he has been nationally ranked He also played professional football

Leonard Karpeles looks at each sport with the realization that there is a best way of doing things He feels many of the racquet sports are similar and emphasshyizes minimizing your mistakes proper court positioning and optimal shot selecshytion When talking to Leonard he was able to break racquetball down better than anyone I have ever talked to with the exception of Charlie Brumfield Leoshynard s philosophy is based on having an overall game philosophy of playng the entire game with a specific purpose He feels that a player should concentrate on

I

hitting high percentage shots and pressurshying their opponents by aggressive court I positioning This strategy should be played the length of the match not just at certain points

An opponents hot streak is like an elevator he says You know if it goes up sooner or later it will come back down

When asked about anticipation Leonard replied You dont anticipate where your opponent is going to hit the ball its knowledge Anticipation is guessshying You dont guess you know where the shot will go 80 of the time

Leonard looks at shot selection as hitshyting a high percentage shot that forces the opponent into a defensive position Since these shots are hit with a high percentage of success mistakes are rare

After the next half hour of Leonards fancy jargon and a lot of Xs and Os we finally got to the secret of Mikes success As Leonard pointed out He doesn t have to worry about his opponent or his game just that if he moves his feet hell be able to hit his shot Since Mike knows where his opponent is going to hit a shot 80 of the time as long as he moves his feet he will be able to hit a return that will put his opponent in a defensive position You can see why Mike has had such consistent success over his career

In playing Mike over the years I have noticed he has had very few off days Our close matches have often followed a familiar pattern Mike would generally start the match a little slow and off balshyance As the match would go on he would start reading my shots better and throwshying me off my game Points would be much harder to score and by the end of the match I would be exhausted wondershying what happened_

When talking to Mike I heard many of Leonards principles in different words I dont care who Im playing whether a power player like Hogan or a control player like Brumfield I won t try to beat them at their own game I play my style and let them adjust to me

Mike wont give an opponent an edge the player has to earn everything he gets If an opponent is winning Mike will genshyerally change the speed in his shots If he is missing offensive opportunities he will raise his traget zone until he gets his rhythm Most players when losing start going for broke hitting shots harder and lower than before Over the years many

9

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

10

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tennis racquets dramatically changed from your hand than with standard-the game for millions of tennis players ~III~sized racquetsshyEktelon s new oversized MACROrM out where tests SERIES racquets are going to change prove you hit the game of racquetball for you balls the most

From the moment you pick it up It means more youll hit winners on balls youre not powerful more even getting to now accurate shots

a lot more often

The MACRO Racquets Patent pending

Actually Lighter Than Many Standard-Sized Racquets As a result of exclusive new high-strength

aerodynamic aluminum alloys the MACRO is extremely easy to swing and weighs only 245 grams Which is very possibly lighter than the racquet youre using now Its time for a change

~BROWNING

j

bull

INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

If you think this funny-looking s~ makes a serious impression on the liill waitll you see your opponents face

Mad RaqTM is the only stringing arrangement in the world umque enough to have a lb~tntAnd oruy Omega it

Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

Mad Raq It looks different It plays with a difference

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

pe_bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull__bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull_--_bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull_ bullbullbull--____-_bull

Moving Make sure Internati onal Racq uetball travels with yo u to your new loc ation Fi ll in the Infor Y at ion bel ow and send it in to International RacquetbJ II P O Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510

OLD ADDRESS

Name

Address

Cit y ________________ State _ _ ___

Zip ______________________________________________

NEW ADDRESS

Name ______________________ ___

Address

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~----------------------------bullbull------~

15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

- 6- _ bull I

Tests prove Wilson TruBlue lasts longer than Penn~ Our Wilson TruBlue certainly shows its colors when it comes to durability

Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

~ bullPenn is a registered trademark of the Penn AthletiC Producls Company Keeping you ahead of the gametrade

--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

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Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

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- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

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~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

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As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

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built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

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of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

observers of the game have felt that Mikes strategy was too conservative that he shouldnt pass up offensive opporshytunities by hitting defensive passing shots_ But its difficult to question Mikes strashytegy given his level of success_

At the recent nationals in Atlanta which Mike won he faced a very stiff challenge from Mike Levine in the early rounds_ Levine was serving extremely well and won the first two games and was up in the third_ Mike knew that he wasnt playing badly himself but that Levine was just hot Instead of hitting more offensive and lower percentage shots Mike hit a variety of around-the-wall misdirection and off-speed shots ones that would hopefully throw Levines timshying off and cool off his hot hand The strategy worked and Yellen won the next three games

Charlie Brumfield Of all the great game technicians I feel

Charlie Brumfield had the greatest amount of flexibility in his game Many of the defensive shots-the around-the-wall-ball the ceiling ball-were first perfected by Charlie Compared to Mike Yellen Charshylie would take greater risks While Mike would playa consistent style and not give anything to the opponent Charlie would open up his game if he was losing

One of Charlies philosophies was never change a winning game but always change a losing one Charlie would constantly analyze himself and his opponents and put together a game plan to win His opponent would never know what to expect Charlie was the only player Ive ever seen who would go for offensive ceiling balls along either wall or continually crack a serve time and time again If an opponent was out powering him he would revert to a style called the hammer he would shorten his stroke and aggressively attack the ball and drive it at his opponent Unlike Yellen Charlie didnt like an opponent to outplay him in any area Charlie would pick up on their strengths and attempt to beat them at their own game

Charlie was a master when it came to changing the rhythm of his opponent He would do anything possible legal or othshyerwise to throw them off I remember a match in 1977 where I played Charlie in the quarterfinals of a pro stop in Milwaushykee I won the first game and in walking onto the court to start the second game I couldnt find the ball We both looked outside to no avail Chuck Leve the refeshyree threw down another ball that was

much slower than our first one I won the game but Charlie was able to play much tougher with the slower ball After the match someone came up to me and menshytioned that Charlie had been hanging around a trash can in the locker room between games I went over looked inside and sure enough found the mysteshyrious missing ball As I said Brumfield is the master when it comes to changing the pace of the game

Bud Muehleisen Bud Muehleisen never played on the

pro tour but his merits deserve recognishytion in this category Bud won the first international singles championship in 1969 and he has won countless amateur titles since Bud seemed to follow the axiom always change a winning game or a losing one He would short hop

Mike Yellen

some serves mix up their speeds hit overhead kills and passes He would conshystantly change the delivery in his shots in the pursuit of completely baffling his opponent Bud didnt just want to win he wanted to leave an impact on his competishytion that he was in complete control

Most Consistent Mike Yellens disciplined game style has

made him the most consistent player over the years Only Mikes desire will dictate whether he will continue to stay at the top

In the true spirit of the recent Olymshypics I decided to challenge Mike to a racquet olympics in which we played squash ping pong badminton and tenshynis After just the first game of squash I realized that Mikes ball control and high percentage racquetball philosophy carshyries over to many other sports Proper

court position and his consistent angled attack kept me off balance and on the run Needless to say lowe Mike and his girlfriend Leslie a dinner

Dave Peck and Steve Strandemo would be my next choices for most consistent

Daves game has few weaknesses His game philosophy is markedly different than Mike Yellens Dave depends on an offensive arsenal which he calls conshytrolled power He also relies heavily (no pun) on being stronger than his opposhynents His backwall play is very strong and that puts pressure on his opponents to hit perfect ceiling balls Dave was one of the first to add the forehand overhead drive to his offensive arsenal By conshystantly driving the ball past his opposhynents Dave would keep the pressure on with the intent to wear down his chalshylenger and force errors

Steve Strandemos consistency came from areas different than either Dave or Mike Steve didnt possess the shot makshying capabilities of Yellen and Peck so he had to rely on his desire and hustle_ Steve had the uncanny ability to keep the ball in play His major emphasis would be on maintaining court position cutting off as much angle as he could legally get away with and then hustling like crazy to get to the ball Its humorous to note that Steves nickname on the tour was the rat because of his scurrying around the court returning shot after shot

Steves shot selection was very safe He would hit a multitude of passing shots but seemed to lack that last put-away shot to end the volley Since a great portion of Steves consistency depended on his physical condition he spent many hours on the court and doing off-court agility drills

In 1973 we played our first professhysional tournament in Houston and Steve was playing Charlie Brumfield in the finals In an amazing three-hour match Steve ran down ball after ball while Charshylie was giving him his patented tour of the court For every step Charlie took Steve ran three In the end Charlie was on the floor with leg cramps while Steve was standing holding the check

My choices for Best Variety of Game Plans

I-Charlie Brumfield 2-Bud Muehleisen 3-Mike Yellen

My choices for Most Consistent I-Mike Yellen 2-Dave Peck 3-Steve Strandemo bull

10

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~BROWNING

j

bull

INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

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Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

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Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

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Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

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--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

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- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

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A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

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Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

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- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

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far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

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~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

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Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

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CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

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INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

If you think this funny-looking s~ makes a serious impression on the liill waitll you see your opponents face

Mad RaqTM is the only stringing arrangement in the world umque enough to have a lb~tntAnd oruy Omega it

Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

Mad Raq It looks different It plays with a difference

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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Moving Make sure Internati onal Racq uetball travels with yo u to your new loc ation Fi ll in the Infor Y at ion bel ow and send it in to International RacquetbJ II P O Box 7548 Reno Nevada 89510

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

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Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

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CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

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built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

j

bull

INTERVIEW

Milton Radmilovich A conversation with the late American

pioneer ofJapanese Racquetball Milton Radmilovich has probably been

the most influential organizer of racquetshyball in the Far East An honory Doctor of Business Administration he helped organize the Japan Amateur Racquetball Association in 1979 He inspired the construction of the first Japanese racshyquetball court He was an Executive Vice President of the International Amateur Racquetball Federation (lARF) and orginaly helped orga1)ize it with Luke SI Onge This past year he was one of only two Americans honored to be invited to the Prime Minister s reception for sports notables in Japan With his fluent Japanese and easy manner he has been invaluable to our sport in the Far East

International Racquetball had a chance to interview Mr Radmilovich at the World Championships in Sacramento this past July A month later he passed away His efforts were unselfish and very successful and he will be sorely missed by all of his friends in and out of the sport of racquetball

What is your current position in Japan

Im with the Department of Defense Overseas School System right now Our school systems are excellent and are as good as anything youll find in the continshyental United States I was in broadcasting also for sixteen years I was program director for Far East Network in Japanshythe Armed Forces radio and television outlet there I did the first English broadshycast of Japanese Sumo wrestling thats now in its twelfth year

Was racquetball introduced to Japan through the armed forces

Essentially through the military right The Japanese played their first tournashyment roughly five no six years ago exactly one month after the first court was constructed Two or three of their first players came out of a squash backshyground They didnt know a kill shot they didnt know a ceiling ball It was an air raid We had twenty players and I believe the finals ended up at something like three in the morning on Sunday The rallies went 20 to 30 shots because everything

was coming off the front wall at two to three feet At that height the Japanese have such great legs that they can get to any ball Because of the long rallies they started cramping up One boy from Kobe dropped out of the semifinal match with cramps in one leg and one arm We got him back in shape again in time to catch the bullet train back down to Kobe He was in great shape on the train but as soon as he got off the train he cramped up again and they had to carry him home in a stret c her

Whats happened to the sport since then

Well the Japanese are a people who are slow to start something but once they catch hold of it they really charge As of this point five years later we have I would estimate close to 15000 players and we have crossed the 100 court mark We are now in twelve cities in Japan Twelve cities now thats important Its not concentrated in the great metropolishytan areas like Tokyo Were in small cities like Agayo Sutuoka Nuaki and down in

12

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

If you think this funny-looking s~ makes a serious impression on the liill waitll you see your opponents face

Mad RaqTM is the only stringing arrangement in the world umque enough to have a lb~tntAnd oruy Omega it

Omega knows racquetball 5 played on thestlirlg5 not theframe So we oonshycentrated on a revolutionary breakshythrough in stringing We suaeeded

The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

Mad Raq It looks different It plays with a difference

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

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- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

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far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

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Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

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of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

Kobe and now in Nagoya Osaka Y okomiddot hama Supporo Hakodatejust all over the place

The people who are playing in Japan where are they coming from Whos coming into the game

Weve tried to show from the very beginning that anyone could play this game Initially I made it a point to bring in people from all sorts of sports backmiddot grounds-Judoists wrestlers track and field people people without any sports background to speak of One of the great success stories I know over there is with a young man who is now fifteen years old He had failed in every sport he had undermiddot taken His parents had become greatly discouraged over that and he was down on himself Well racquetball came along and he fell in love with the game Hes playing probably an average of five times a week and his parents are so happy with the results that they re now playing three times a week

In Japan the people are very selective about their sports and they dont diversify too much They stick with one sport whether its golf or tennis or racquetball and they try to become the best in that particular sport Its only been in recent times that theyve gone out for two or

three sports Theyre not like Americans in that manner who go out for everything

You say that there are a hundred courts Are they being built by the cities or by private enterprise

With the exception of the two YMCAs and one semimiddotpublic court everything else is private For the benefit of your readers you must understand that there are no largemiddotscale projects like 15 or 20 courts like you have here in the States Most of the court clubs are between two and five courts in size Some have aerobic and exercise facilities adjoining but others are part of extensive health centers I think the Japanese have realized early that in order for racquetball to be successmiddot ful it has to be combined with other health facilities I think thats one thing we ve learned from the mistakes made here in the US

You have an amateur association Has that been in existence for five years

The amateur organization was formed before there were any courts constructed We deliberately did that In fact internamiddot tionally were trying to do that in other countries The reason being that once they start constructing the courts things have a tendency to get out of hand in a

hurry Youve got all kinds of standards and rules being interpreted and within a matter of one or two years things are beyond the point of control So the best thing to do when youre starting out in a foreign country is to establish an associamiddot tion that knows what it is doing and that has the interest of the players at heart They can then help not only the players but they can also encourage high standmiddot ards in the investors and the people conmiddot structing the courts

Are you on the board of the Japanese association

I got the thing started with the help of some of my friends but then I turned the entire operation over to them It is a Japmiddot anese association operated entirely by Japanese I am a consultant The presimiddot dent of the association is Mr Morinaga The SecretarymiddotGeneral of the association is Mr Ishimoto Those are the two key people in the association There are five officers in all We have also organized regional associations in Western and Northern Japan primarily because its getting to the point that in the major tourmiddot naments it s going to be very difficult to handle the total number of entrants in a small facility in a three day tournament There was another federation that started

13

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Mad RaqTM is the only stringing arrangement in the world umque enough to have a lb~tntAnd oruy Omega it

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The patented Mad RaqT M six-string pattern looks different than the oonvenshytional four-string pattern But its not just for looks Tests oonducted by an inshydeJXndent research lab prove it can help give players theedge theyve never had Sixstrings give greaterball bite and bite time t1ian four strings Larger holes in the Mad Raq stringshying pattern six gripshyping edges rather than four and Ii rougher surface pattern give greater surface ball bite as well as up to 15 greater bite time LoQo__aL-~

than conventional stringing for greater oontrol finesse top-spin and stice than oonventional stringing Six-string pattern dampens shock better than four-string The Mad Raq stringing ~~s pattern deflects vibrashytion six directions instead of just four Th5 means up to 10 less shock to your wrist ann and shoulder And you work less hard because the strings do more of the work Mad Raq gives you a larger sweetspotand powerzone TheMadRaq pattern gives you up to a 7 larger sweet spot than convenshytional tringing for more controlled hits And a 10 larger power zone than conventional stringing for more power hits The Omega promise Mad Raq stringing gives a player the edge theyve never had Instead of having string tensionshyadjusted either for power playing or soft-touch playing as you would have to do with a COnventionally-strung racquet Mad Raq stringing gives the player the capability of playing both styles with one racquet

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

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--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

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Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

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important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

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In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

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up there which potentially could have caused some problems for us but it did not Everything has resolved itself It is because we have always maintained in the association that the players interests come first And so if a player from another federation wants to play in our tournashyment thats fine we dont care The playmiddot ers are important

Does the association have any imporshytant rulings

Therere two places where proudly I can say we are a little more progressive than the American association As of two years ago we made the use of eyeguards compulsory and we also just this year adopted the rule enforcing the nonshyencroachment of the five foot line

How often do the tournaments take place

Roughly we have a major tournament every month Thats about all we can handle at the present time We have open tournaments that may include everyone including military people_

How are Japanese women accepted in sports

They are accepted very very grashyciously In fact sports is such an imporshy

tant part of the Japanese lifestyleshyconsider that the Japanese are out doing calisthenics before they start work in the morning in their companies Health and fitness is emphasized in every facit of society and so there is no discrimination as far as the women are concerned The women dont mind sweating They enjoy that In fact one of the great benefits that has frequently been commented on in Japan is the great feeling you get when you sweat so profusely That comes from the lady players as well as the men players

The Japanese have put together a good womens team in very short order

Yeah The women have probably had only three and a half years experience But they have worked very hard

I want to tell you a little bit about the Japanese approach to racquetball I think it is very important for your readership It is the sportsmanship that they exhibit Very seldom will you see a Japanese player appeal a referees call

Is that because the referees are better

No Not necessarily They rarely appeal They do carry it to the extreme I agree for once in a while they should appeal a call and Ive told them that It is difficult for them to bring themselves to

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15

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

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face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

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Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

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-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

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Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

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of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

say that word For example well have an Asian regional that will consist of 12 fiveshymember teams and the male side and maybe 10 or 11 five -member teams on the womens side Thats a lot of players Well even in a tournment like that for every match there is a referee and two linesmen People voluntarily perform those functions without being asked Thats for every match not just the semis or the finals Thats every match from start to finish

What do you think the benefits will be from international competition

I think one of the main benefits will be that racquetball will gain the maturity and dignity it deserves One of the things we did in World Games One was take all the racquetball players over to the badminton finals Now badminton has a long hisotry and everyone commented on the deportshyment of the players in badminton The more of these international events we have the more those kind of things are going to rub off on racquetball

Do you want to increase the influence of racquetball in the Asian region

Of course I established an association in the Philippines but Im afriad its lackshying something at the present time because the people there have hesitated to encourage court development What happened in the Philippines was that ~any investors got their hands burned with a game called Pelota which is quite similar to racquetball Its a combination of racquetball and Jai-alai Its played with a racquetball racquet and a racquetshyball ball on a court that has a front wall with a bang board like squash a side wall and no back wall with a net on the right hand side It has a slightly larger court Its a fun game but apparently they overshyconstructed there and therefore the invesshytors are reluctant to get involved in racshyquetball to any great extent I feel if I were there for a year I could really get the thing moving but I cant There are some plans for two court clubs in Korea at the present time but of course Koreas full attention is focused on the 1988 Olymshypics so it may be a couple of years before we see anything in the offing

How about Australia

Australia already has a number of courts and quite a large number of playshyers In our last Executive Committee meeting we discussed the correct geoshygraphical zoning for the world I plan to write the director of the Australian assoshyciation to find out whether Australia wishes to participate as part of Asia as they do in tennis or whether they wish to

be considered as a separate continent in which case we will establish another conshytinental association there Now there are a couple of investors down in Hong Kong there are three courts at the Amershyican Club in Singapore there are six to eight courts being planned in Taiwan Thats one that defies me because with the thousands and thousands of racquets that are made in Taiwan why they dont have the courts to go along with them is beyond me (laughs)

In talking with the Latin American and European representatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market

Have any of the manufacturers approached the Japanese association for the purpose of establishing say an official ball

No The association has decided against endorsing anyone particular ball It is an open ball policy Again at my encourshyagement It could very easily have hapshypened that way however let s talk about the ball separately from other marketing companies there The Japanese have tried to alternate which ball is played from tournament to tournament to give every ball maker an opportunity There are really only three balls represented there Primarily V oit has been the major supshyporter at the grass roots level Ektelon has a representative there who has exclusive

marketing rights within Japan and we have played with their ball So nobody has the associations nod on an official ball

In talking with the Latin American representative and th~ European represhysentatives Im finding that the situation is identical everywhere Apparently the manufacturers do not fully understand the potential of the overseas market And so very few of them have come in to offer support in any way We could use the support from any of them as long as they dont come in with the idea that they want to take control or dominate The type of activity we could welcome would be for instance supporting transportation of players to come over and do clinics

I suspect that the manufacturers want to see an immediate profit from their efforts with the foreign market We canshynot promise that at this time All of us are helping the international sport grow on a voluntary basis

What do you think would be the most help right now

Helping to establish the Junior proshygrams is the first thing that comes to mind Instruction materials and instrucshytors that are capable with kids are another area they could hlep Teaching the Japashynese instructors There has been very litshytle done so far Larry Fox came over and spent three months without any sponsorshyship and worked in two cities in Japan Ektelon sent Lynn Adams and Jennifer Harding over for the opening of a new club and they worked out beautifully with the Japanese Theyre lovely ladies and didnt come in like prima-donnas or temshypermental maniacs which would comshypletely turn the Japanese off which by the way happened a few years back when a couple of male pros came over It was a disaster First of all the Japanese were very put off at the $10000 appearance fee Then when they showed up the two pros played a very lackluster exhibition match collected their money and blew out of town

That s past history now thank goodshyness and the Japanese players have expressed interest in having Kathy Gluvna (they love her) and Heather McKay over Terri Gilreath is another player they have mentioned Basically we need not only the people who have the playing ability but those who have good charactershypeople of the highest standard for image purposes If there is one thing the Japashynese understand and appreciate its abilshyity and given the chance to learn that ability alls I can say is stand back Here come the Japanese bull

16

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

- 6- _ bull I

Tests prove Wilson TruBlue lasts longer than Penn~ Our Wilson TruBlue certainly shows its colors when it comes to durability

Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

~ bullPenn is a registered trademark of the Penn AthletiC Producls Company Keeping you ahead of the gametrade

--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

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Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

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built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

DOGAN WINS SEASON OPENE Marty Hogan Storms Back To The Top By Taking Davison For The Second Straight Time

Marly Hogan he ft s a very large w inne rs check

J ust as he did in 1983 Marty Hogan stormed into the seamiddot sons first pro stop in Davison

Michigan determined to once again avenge the loss of his number one ranking to Mike Yellen For the second consecumiddot tive year Yellen had grabbed the national championship from Hogan at the last stop of the season And for the second consecutive year Hogan won the $12000 Bud Light Open (held at the Davison Racquet Club August 23middot26) I and climbed back into the top position in the mens rankings But unlike last year when he barely edgedout Yellen in the Davison final Marty was denied the chance to meet his greatest foe facemiddot tomiddot

17

- 6- _ bull I

Tests prove Wilson TruBlue lasts longer than Penn~ Our Wilson TruBlue certainly shows its colors when it comes to durability

Because precise lab tests at tournament-level s~ds prove conclusively that TruBlue can withstand more punishing hits than Penn And that translates into more kill shots more blazing serves more crushing forehands where it counts most On the court So if you want a consistent lively racquetball thats going to last pick the one that finished first Wilson TruBlue

~ bullPenn is a registered trademark of the Penn AthletiC Producls Company Keeping you ahead of the gametrade

--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

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- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

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far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

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help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

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of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

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--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

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Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

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-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

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As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

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win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

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built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

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26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

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match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

--

face after YeJlen was eliminated in the round-of -16_

Instead Hogan found himself on center court facing off with Scott Oliver the ninth-ranked 21-year-old from Stockton California I t was the second time in 1984 that the two had met in a pro-event final-Hogan trounced Oliver in three games in Beaverton in February Once again Hogan who glided through the Davison tournament like a well-oiled machine seriously outclassed his rookie opponent in a lopsided final-11-9 2-11 11-5 11-4

Nineteen eighty-four marked the seventh consecutive year of the pro-am event in Davison (a suburb of Flint) and its second as a ranking stop As the first ranking event of the season Davison is known for its large draws and erratic play among the top seeds This year 61 players entered the mens pro division many of them young rookies looking for their first chance to knock off one of the games big guns They knew many of those guns hadnt been fired since the DP Nationals in Atlanta in June This year some of the biggest guns looked like they hadnt even been cleaned

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but there were some noteworthy upsets Eleventh-ranked Jack Newman of Chicago became the latest in a long line of victims for young Cliff Swain of Braintree MA Although Swain came into Davison ranked 22 he is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dangerous young players in the game In Baltimore he lost to Hogan in five games

Also in the 32s national outdoor champion Brian Hawkes barely edged by Andy Gross 11-39-1110-1111-6 11-10 in a great matchup of power playshyers that was literally the bloodiest battle of the tournament Serving in the fifth game at 9-10 Hawkes dove for a drive into the right rear corner and landed face first opening a large gash in his chin which gushed blood down the front of his shirt and onto the floor Play was halted while Dave Peck (who once worked as a surgishycal assistant) stopped the bleeding and patched up Hawkes well enough to win the last two points after which the Califorshynian was taken to the hospital for stitches

Mike Yellen came through the 32s with ease downing local qualifier Chuck Teets 11-2 11-5 11-8 But Yellen who lives in nearby Southfield is becoming famous for his disasters in the second round This time the disaster waiting in the wings was a player named Corey

19

- ~

Corey Brysman powers the ball around Mike Yellen in his upset in the 16 s

Hoga n shows perfect form against Hilecher

Bret Harnel couldn t counter the alack of Gregg Peck

-~ _shy

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

HEADS IMPULSE HAS AN OVERSIZED FACE TO HELP YOU

RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

------------

+-+-+--+-+--4 +-l-I--+--I---Oidil

~~~~-----Nylon bumper guard

DUCE A RACQUEI REI INIRODUCING

DOWN THE LINE PINCH

win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

Impulses frame stiff And that stiffness gives you the control you need to put the ball exactly where you want it-down the line across the court or right

into the corner

Graphite HEAD Fiberglass

Boron We want you to win

For free produce informacion wrice AM F Head P O Box CN-5227 Princeco n NJ 08540

copy 1984 AMF Inc

26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

Brysman Brysman a 21-year-old from Florida who now lives in Southern Calishyfornia is the latest of a long line of promisshying young players (PYPs) from an area that seems to crankem out like cookies

The Yellen-Brysman match started close and got closer Yellen who spent a great deal of the summer traveling appeared fatigued almost from the beginshyning of the match Brysman whose wellshyrounded game resembles that of the national champions took early advanshytage of Mikes mistakes to keep the match close and then clearly outplayed Yellen in the end to win in five extremely close games 11 -9 10-11 11-109-11 11-9

Unquestionably Corey Brysman played world-class racquetball to earn his victory over Yellen But it was clearly Yellens lack of conditioning and his inability to move to center court that cost him the match

Fridays final round-ofmiddot16 match was a battle of the number 8 and 9 seeds Gerry Price and Scott Oliver It was a repeat of the Beaverton semifinal for the two friends from Northern California which Oliver won This time Price appeared to be so much in control of the match that most of the crowd yielded to the late hour and headed home only to read in the paper the next morning that Oliver had come from behind to win once again 2-11 7-11 11-5 11 -9 11-8 Gerry it seemed had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory

Oliver went on to defeat Corey Brysman in the quarterfinals 11 -6 7-11 11middot6 11 -9 to take over the slot of the 1 seed It was the second time in a year that Scott had benefited from the early elimination of Mike Yellen in Beaverton he gained the finals after Gerry Price had upset the top seed

Dave Peck continued his amazing domination over 6 Ruben Gonzalez beating him in three easy games 11-6 11-4 11middot0 This is becoming one of the more interesting matchups of the pro game On paper these two should be fairly evenly matched Ruben is known for playing everyone close But the last two times they have played Peck has won easily outscoring Ruben 66-17 Clearly something in Daves game is throwing Rubens timing off and no one including Ruben seems to know what it is

As the first stop of the season Davison provides a good opportunity to see which of the games top players have worked hard during the summer and which have not By the quarterfinals it was clear that only two of the top players had worked at

20

--Co rey Brysman fires a forehand during quarterfinal match with Scott Oliver

-

A bloody but victorious Brian Hawkes Dave Peck took Hogan fi ve in the semis

Marty Hogan has Scott Oliver out of position in their final match

-

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

HEADS IMPULSE HAS AN OVERSIZED FACE TO HELP YOU

RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

------------

+-+-+--+-+--4 +-l-I--+--I---Oidil

~~~~-----Nylon bumper guard

DUCE A RACQUEI REI INIRODUCING

DOWN THE LINE PINCH

win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

Impulses frame stiff And that stiffness gives you the control you need to put the ball exactly where you want it-down the line across the court or right

into the corner

Graphite HEAD Fiberglass

Boron We want you to win

For free produce informacion wrice AM F Head P O Box CN-5227 Princeco n NJ 08540

copy 1984 AMF Inc

26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

Oliver strides into a forehand against Hogan

--Corey Brysman returns offmiddotbalance Ruben Gonzalez felto Dave Peck again

Gregg Peck took out Bret Harnett in three straight games

-

all Marty Hogan and Gregg Peck That Hogan was in shape and playing

well surprised no one Much is said about j

Martys incredible natural ability and all of it is true But its becoming more and more obvious that the real key to his success is his committment few people work as hard at their craft as he does on his racquetball and it shows The differmiddot ence in conditioning between Marty and his fellow players was more obvious in Davison than it had been in a very long time

Hogan easily took out Hilecher in the quarters 11-8 7-11 11-1 11-5 and continued his march toward the final

While Hogan was working to stay sharp Gregg Peck actually raised the level of his game By his own admission Gregg returned to Texas following a bad loss to Yellen in Atlanta and went to work on what many viewed as his only real weakness-his inability to drive down the left wall with his backhand

With his newly polished backhand Gregg looked very strong in the early rounds but it was against Bret Harnett in the quarters that his improved game really started to shine After having lost to Harnett in their previous three meetings Gregg took out the powerful left-hander in three straight games 11-10 11-8 Ilshy10 a victory which firmly entrenched him in the 4 position

One of the unusual aspects of the Davshyison tournament is the scheduling While most pro events schedule the quarterfishynals semifinals and finals all on separate days in Davison the quarters and semis are both played on Saturday because of a large banquet on Friday night In at least one of the semifinal matches that scheshyduling became a factor

Gregg Peck walked on the court for his semifinal match with Scott Oliver less than three hours after finishing his gruelshying battle with Bret Harnett in the quarshyters While Oliver seemed unaffected by his match earlier in the day Gregg looked a half step behind Although his shots and positioning were solid he obviously lacked the aggression he showed against Harnett Peck fell to Oliver in four games 11-62-1111-811-8

Marty Hogan started out strong in his semifinal match with Dave Peck and then nearly gave the match away After winning the first two games Hogan visshyibly let up and even began joking with the crowd Hogan has played Peck enough over the years to know better Dave won the next two games then jumped to a threatening 6-0 lead in the fifth before

21

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

HEADS IMPULSE HAS AN OVERSIZED FACE TO HELP YOU

RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

------------

+-+-+--+-+--4 +-l-I--+--I---Oidil

~~~~-----Nylon bumper guard

DUCE A RACQUEI REI INIRODUCING

DOWN THE LINE PINCH

win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

Impulses frame stiff And that stiffness gives you the control you need to put the ball exactly where you want it-down the line across the court or right

into the corner

Graphite HEAD Fiberglass

Boron We want you to win

For free produce informacion wrice AM F Head P O Box CN-5227 Princeco n NJ 08540

copy 1984 AMF Inc

26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

-

-

- -shy--No Marty Please don t help me OK

-- --

Scott Oliver earned his second final of th e year Hogan and Hilecher in th e quarters

Mike Ray Bill Sell and Sean Moskwa try their hand at darts after being eliminated

Hogan could get his momentum back to win in five 11-8 11middot97-115-1111-7

The question that circulated through the packed house at the exhibition court of the Davison Racquet club on Sunday afternoon was whether Scott Oliver could go the distance with the great Hogan Oliver who was playing his first tournashyment in Michigan had impressed the crowds throughout the week with his powerful aggressive game and his incredibly accurate shooting But how would he fare against the man who invented the very type of game he played [t didnt take long to find out

Hogan went to the service box and immediately set the tone for the match by grabbing a 5-1 lead on two blazing aces And were talking real aces-serves hit with 100 power landing within inches of the short line and never touching the side wall Oliver seemed able to stay with Hogan once the rally started but it became a major challenge for Scott to get the ball in play Hogan won the first game 11-9-four aces

Oliver came into game two determined to beat Marty at his own game He cranked up his own serve and was surprisshyingly effective scoring two aces and forcshying numerous errors from Hogans backshyhand He won the game going away 11-2

Hoping to ride his new found momenshytum through another game Oliver served his way to a 3-2 lead in the third game but it was the last lead he would ever see Marty came alive and totally overshywhelmed his dazed opponent outscoring Oliver 20 points to 5 and taking the last two games 11-5 11-4

Hogan made an interesting observation following the match

This is the second time Ive played Scott in the finals he said to the crowd at the awards ceremony [ think youre going to be seeing next year or maybe this year a total revamping of the top four There are a number of young players out there-and Scotts one of them-who are just now ready to make their move And the standard top four arent going to be standard anymore The younger players are getting too tough

He then added one last thought Thats OK as long as one position doesn t change

The victory put Hogan well ahead of Mike Yellen in the number one postion in the mens rankings It was also worth $4000 Oliver moved up to eighth and received $2000

The pro event in Davison though it is

2 2

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

HEADS IMPULSE HAS AN OVERSIZED FACE TO HELP YOU

RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

------------

+-+-+--+-+--4 +-l-I--+--I---Oidil

~~~~-----Nylon bumper guard

DUCE A RACQUEI REI INIRODUCING

DOWN THE LINE PINCH

win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

Impulses frame stiff And that stiffness gives you the control you need to put the ball exactly where you want it-down the line across the court or right

into the corner

Graphite HEAD Fiberglass

Boron We want you to win

For free produce informacion wrice AM F Head P O Box CN-5227 Princeco n NJ 08540

copy 1984 AMF Inc

26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

------

far from the richest on the mens tour has become a favorite for many of the games best players The tournament is run annually by Jim Hiser one of the most respected and innovative promoters in the game

This year Hiser experimented with a new refereeing system that nearly everyone agreed was an amazing sucshycess He informed all players who entered including pros that the loser of each match would be required to referee instead of the winner as is usually the policy

Overall the system worked well But what amazed everyone (Hiser included) was that the pros themselves put up almost no resistance Except for the finals which Hiser himself officiated all pro matches were called by other pros The result was that the Davison tournament was probably the best officiated pro tourshynament ever held On-court disputes were almost non-existent and there were few questioned calls It was an experience that seemed to prove what many of the pros have said for years that because of the speed of the game only a pro can competently referee a pro match

Bud Light Open Davison Racquet Club

Davison Michigan August 23-261984

Seeds 1-Mike Yellen 2-Marty Hogan 3-Dave Peck 4-Gregg Peck 5-Brett Harnett 6-Ruben Gonzalez 7-Jerry Hi lecher 8-Gerry Price

Harnett del Valin 244 G Peck del Sell 335 D Peck del Cohen (7) 666 Gonzalez del Swain 10(7) 10(2)6 Hilecher del Andrews 4(5) 43 Hogan del Hawkes 107(4) 8

Quarterfinal Round Oliver del Brysman 6(7) 69 G Peck del Harnett 10810 D Peck del Gonzalez 640 Hogan del Hilecher 8(7)15

Semifinal Round Oliver del G Peck 6(2)88 Hogan del D Peck 89(7)(5)7

Final Round HOGAN del Oliver 9(2)54 bull

- - ) -

No one ever accused jim Hiser of not getting visibility for his sponsor

Round-of-32 M Yellen del O Teets 258 C Brysman del S Lerner 10(8) 13 S Oliver del D Obremski 77 1 G Price del 8 Mitchell 942 8 Harnett del D Ganim 896 8 Valin del M Levine (6) 98 7 8 Sell del D Gross 28(9) 1 G Peck del J Juron 6(9) 56 D Peck del D Green 3(4)33 D Cohen del M Ray 728 C Swain del J Newman 3(4)33 R Gonzalez del K Vantrease 97 7 J Hilecher del S Moskwa (7)6 25 E Andrews del D Simonette 844 B Hawkes del A Gross 3(9)(10)610 M Hogan del J Amatulli (9)252

Round-of-16 Brysman del Yellen 9(10) 10(9) 9 Oliver del Price (2) (7)59 8

23

Oliver handled Corey Brysman to advance to the semis

Marty Hogan-another strong win in Davison

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

HEADS IMPULSE HAS AN OVERSIZED FACE TO HELP YOU

RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

------------

+-+-+--+-+--4 +-l-I--+--I---Oidil

~~~~-----Nylon bumper guard

DUCE A RACQUEI REI INIRODUCING

DOWN THE LINE PINCH

win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

Impulses frame stiff And that stiffness gives you the control you need to put the ball exactly where you want it-down the line across the court or right

into the corner

Graphite HEAD Fiberglass

Boron We want you to win

For free produce informacion wrice AM F Head P O Box CN-5227 Princeco n NJ 08540

copy 1984 AMF Inc

26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

-Sceve Scranciemo racquecball professional ceacher and awlwrof Advanced Racquetball

~~rD I1KE m INRO rILPROBAB

You know what really separates somebody who plays racquetball from somebody who wins Power plus control thats what And now Head has designed this new racquet to help you put it all together Its got built-in power And it s engineered to give you that all-important control

Its called the Impulse and its a highshyperformance racquet thatll help you give somebody like me a run for my money

HEADS IMPULSE HAS AN OVERSIZED FACE TO HELP YOU

RETURN MY MOST UNEXPECTED SHillS POWERFULLY

As you move into the big league youre going to find that the really good players are full of surprises But Heads

Impulse has an enlarged hitting surface so you get a bigger sweet spot That means you can get a piece of even the meanest shots And once your opponent knows youre committed to getting your racquet on absolutely everything hes gonna start to sweat Believe me I know

HEADS IMPULSE HAS A SLIM PROFILE THATLL HELP YOU

CUT THE BALL OFF AGGRESSIVELY

In the competitive world of advanced racquetball you have to be aggressive to

------------

+-+-+--+-+--4 +-l-I--+--I---Oidil

~~~~-----Nylon bumper guard

DUCE A RACQUEI REI INIRODUCING

DOWN THE LINE PINCH

win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

Impulses frame stiff And that stiffness gives you the control you need to put the ball exactly where you want it-down the line across the court or right

into the corner

Graphite HEAD Fiberglass

Boron We want you to win

For free produce informacion wrice AM F Head P O Box CN-5227 Princeco n NJ 08540

copy 1984 AMF Inc

26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

------------

+-+-+--+-+--4 +-l-I--+--I---Oidil

~~~~-----Nylon bumper guard

DUCE A RACQUEI REI INIRODUCING

DOWN THE LINE PINCH

win And the Impulse is designed to help HEADS NEW IMPULSE CAN with the most aggressive shot of all-the HELP KEEP YOU ALIVE EVEN WHEN cut-off The Impulses aerodynamically I HIT A KILLER slick profile gives you really quick response When youve scrambled to get a piece

of a tough cross-court pass the last thing you need is a racquet that twists on imshypact Thats why the Impulse gives you

built-in reinforcement against twisting withits special integrated throat design So even when you catch the ball offshycenter you have the control and the power to keep it alive (And that gives you one more chance to go for a winner)

THE BORON IGRAPHITE IMPULSE ISBe aggress ive Cut off Q left-laquop shot with a quick racqtltet like the Impulse Youll have Q lot of offensive options and control of center COHrl NOT EXPENSIVE EITHER SO

YOU INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS CAN and great maneuverability So as soon as AFFORD TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES you see a chance to cut off a shot your racshy

OF BEATING ME IMMEDIATELY quet is in position to get the job done Now that you see how the Impulse canHEADS NEW BORON IGRAPHITE

help you take the next steps in improving IMPULSE HAS A STIFF FRAME TO HELP your game you probably understand whyYOU RUN ME ALL OVER THE COURT

Im so happy for you And just a little The tougher the opponent the more nervous for me

important it is to keep him on the move off-balance and out of center court And the Impulse is designed to help You see Head uses a unique combination of boron graphite and fiberglass to make

Impulses frame stiff And that stiffness gives you the control you need to put the ball exactly where you want it-down the line across the court or right

into the corner

Graphite HEAD Fiberglass

Boron We want you to win

For free produce informacion wrice AM F Head P O Box CN-5227 Princeco n NJ 08540

copy 1984 AMF Inc

26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

26

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

Gregg Goes Bananas

F or the past three or four years it has been the accepted wisdom of the mens pro game that only

four players were capable of winning a major ranking professional tournament Marty Hogan Mike Yellen Dave Peck and on an inspired day Brett Harnett You can now officially up that number to five

Gregg Peck finally emerged from the long dark shadow of his older brother and won his first ranking professional tournament ever-the Michelob Light Stockton Pro Am at the West Lane Racquet Club in Stockton California

Marty Hogan-an o ff day

September 1-3 And he won it with style In one of the greatest exhibitions of aggressive racquetball in recent memory Peck utterly destroyed number-one ranked Marty Hogan in a three-game final that lasted less than 35 minutes 11 -9 11-2 11-3 Yes you read that correctly 20shyyear-old Gregg Peck who had never reached the final of a ranking event handed the worlds top ranked player one of the worst defeats of his professional career

For Gregg the younger of pro racshyquetballs top-billed brother act the vicshytory must have seemed like a long time

27

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

Hogan took out Harnett in the semifinals

Ed Andrews battling with Hogan in the quarters-nearly an upset

Bret Harnett and Ruben Go nzalez in th e quarterfinals

coming For nearly two years he has played under the curse of having been singled out by the experts as the sports next great player

Ironically and probably unwittingly Hogan himself predicted-the outcome at Stockton In late July at a non-ranking event in Baltimore Hogan beat Peck in a four-game final saying afterward Gre~~ Peck is obviously going to be a tournashyment winner watch out for him in the future

Then in Davison just a week prior to Stockton Hogan made this startling preshydiction 1 think youre going to be seeing a total revamping of the top four The standard top four aren t going to be standard any more

Hogans statements proved prophetic Gregg Pecks victory at Stockton thrust him into the 3 position in the mens rankshyings Dave Peck was upset by Gerry Price in the quarterfinals and dropped to fifth marking the first real change in the top four since 1981 and placing Gregg ahead of his older brother for the first time in his life

Gregg Pecks rise to the very top of the mens game is no fluke His game has always been viewed as one of the most solid all-around attacks in the sport But in the last year and particularly in the last three months his play has gone from solid to spectacular

The dimension of Pecks victory over Hogan can only be understood by those who witnessed the match

Hogan who had played extremely well coming into the final was immediately thrown off by Pecks powerful drives and kills and found himself struggling to come from behind from the first moment of the match Gregg set up his game-plan early and executed it with awesome preshycision through the entire match

I wanted to make sure I didnt skip the ball Gregg would say after his victory over Hogan If I missed I missed high The whole match I concentrated on hitshyting the ball either straight in or driving cross court so if I did miss the ball would go into back court and he would have to hit while he was moving back

Hogan started the match playing Pecks backhand which has long been considered his less effective side But Marty was stunned as Gregg viciously attacked every ball pounding shot after shot down the left wall The few balls that didnt roll or crack out sent Hogan scrambling backshywards hitting desperately defensive returns

Both players spent the first few moments

28

-

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

of game one breaking balls and otherwise adjusting to each others power both Hogan and Peck are capable of hitting with thunderous power But then Gregg bolted from a 2-2 tie with five roaring backhand kills that shot him to a 7 -2 lead and sent Marty off the court with a timeshyout to re-think his game plan

Hogan returned and adjusted his game hopelessly trying to find some way to stop the deadly barrage coming from deep court He closed the gap to 7 -8 with a few blasts of his own but Gregg stubbornly refused to let Marty set up Peck won the first game 11-9

Even then it was not apparent that Hogan was in serious trouble The first game was reasonably close and it is not unusual for Marty to drop a game early in the match before he hits stride But the worst was yet to come

Gregg Peck delivered the death-blow early in the second game Assuming that Hogan would try to turn the match into a backhand shoot-out (which he would probably win) Peck started alternating his drives with wide-angled cross-court passes similar to those used so effectively by Mike Yellen The strategy was pershyfect Hogan guessed wrong every time With the seeming ability to score at will Gregg built leads of 4-16-2 an then ran the game out 11-2

By the third game Hogans timing and confidence were completely shattered Gregg outplayed Hogan the man he once idolized in every aspect of the game He glided to an easy 9-2 lead where Hogan made one last gasp before helplessly yielding 11-3

Everyone at the West Lane Racquet Club was stunned Hogan was visibly shaken and stood silently along the right wall awaiting the check presentation The Stockton crowd most of whom had come to see the great Hogan for the first time seemed bewildered by what they had seen

But it was Gregg Peck who was most ill-at-ease as he took the winners microshyphone for the first time Uncertain what to say he did the best thing and simply spoke from the heart This is my first tournament victory ever and it feels really good

Sitting in the locker room after the match Gregg talked about strategy Marty is tough on the run but hes real tough when hes set up Almost every shot he hit today he had to hit on the run That was my goal He covers the front court so well you have to move him I just went in there with the attitude that I was

29

A frustrated Marty Hogan glares at the officials

Cregg Peck sets up for the backhand that destroyed Marty Hogan

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

Gregg Peck mixed it up and Marty Hogan guessed wrong every time

spectator matches Evan Terry earned his second big upset and survived the marathon contest of the tournament when he barely edged by hometown favorite Scott Oliver 3-11 11-108-1111-10 11-8 Oliver was coming off a secondshyplace finish in Davison and was expected to do well in Stockton Chalk up another one to the hometown curse

Brian Hawkes is probably still losing sleep over his loss to Bret Harnett Hawkes beat the 4 seed in the first two games 11-8 11-2 and held a 9-3 lead in the third only to watch Harnett inch his way back and reverse the match to win in five 8-11 2-11 11-9 11-5 11-2 Hawkes who is primarily known as the world s top outdoor player has been climbing quickly in the pro rankings Despite his close loss to Harnett Brians performance in Stockton moved him up

i

going to take the right shots and if 1 missed to make sure he had to hit great ones

I think the key to playing Marty is to keep the pressure on without pressure hell just kill you He came out slow and I was playing well from the start The more the match went on the more the pressure was on him to hit great shots and he started leaving the baH up and forcing it

Gregg also talked about why his backshyhand drives have improved so dramatishycally After Yellen hit 99 out of 100 against me in Atlanta 1 figured Hey thats a pretty good shot-Ill have to learn that one

The draw at the Stockton Pro-Am was somewhat marred by the last-minute withshydrawal of 1984 national cahmpion Mike

Yellen Yellen who was defeated in the round-of-16 in Davison the previous week was reportedly not satisfied with the conshydition of his game

All of the top eight seeds advanced through the round-of-32 but three of the top 16 did not Jack Newman II failed to pull out of his recent slump as he fell to rookie Dan OBremski in five games Bill Sell 14 was upset by Sean Moskwa of Chicago Evan Terry of Arizona ranked 44 coming into Stockton started out the finest tournament of his career by crushshying 13 Don Thomas in three games And Corey Brysman the young phenom from California who upset Yellen in Davishyson couldnt handle the powerful game of Andy Gross

The round-of-16 provided two great

to 1 I a jump of five slots in just two tournaments

Gerry Price playing just 40 miles from his home in Pleasanton apparently felt that Stockton was far enough away to not qualify as hometown and played another fine tournament After taking out Dolshywaine Green and Rich Wagner Price peaked just in time to upset secondshyseeded Dave Peck in the quarterfinals with surprising ease 11-2 11-6 7-1 I 11-7

Eighth-seeded Ed Andrews nearly prevented Marty Hogan from advancing past the quarterfinals Andrews is one of the games most fundamentally sound players and is known for giving Hogan fits Ed served twice at match point in the fourth game but couldnt connect and allowed Hogan to steal the well-played

Gerry Price hits a desperation ceiling ball against Gregg Pec k

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

~~ yea~_A_~~~lmu~~rlffIng sporting goods products to buifding the best oversize racquet we knew how IMPULSEIntroducing is itIMPULSE by We created a special Richcraft W ith

cross-sectional design a string platform that is lighter stronge~measuring in at 20

smaller and aerodynamicshyby 1 0 inches you ally sound to give youget 50 percent more

maximum controlplay ing surface ~han Then we added a w ith a conventional unique inner nylon string racquet and a sweet liner that protects the stnngs spot thats 75 percent and gives the frame added larger but stil~ weighs durability and strengthin at an incredl ble Finally we gave you245 grams a full bumper which protects

give you years ing enjoyment

bull Lightweight durable precision-crafted IMPULSE gIves you a better chance at the ones that got aw ay

We did all this and still made it affordable for you

~RI[HCRllff

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

match8-II 1-11 11-2 11-10 11-4 Also in the quarters Harnett downed

Ruben Gonzalez and Gregg Peck stopped Evan Terry both with relative ease

Large crowds gathered to watch both semifinal matches which pitted Marty Hogan against Brett Harnett and Gregg Peck against Gerry Price

Hogan and Harnett racquetballs two purest power players are famous for staging close exciting matches Their contest in Stockton was exciting but it wasnt close Hogan easily outblasted his left-handed friend from Las Vegas 11-9 11-7 11-5

Playing in front of a large number of personal friends Gerry Price won a game but was generally unable to defend against Gregg Pecks furious attack as he fell to the tall Texan in four games 11-4 9-11 11-5 11-6

The Stockton Pro-Am was the first ranking professional tournament ever staged in the Northern California city and was the first appearance there by most of the top-ranked men The event offered $10000 in total prize money ($4000 first $2000 second) and was sponsored by Michelob Light (Anheiser-Busch) and Pepsi-Cola

Stockton Pro-Am Westlane Racquet Club

Stockton California August 31-September 3 1984

Seeds 1-Marty Hogan 2-Dave Peck 3-Gregg Peck 4-Bret Harnett

Gerry Price frustrated with himself in the semi s

5-Ruben Gonzalez 6-Scott Oliver 7-Gerry Price 8-Ed And rews

Round-of-32 M Hogan del R Fer rin 56(5)8 S Lern er del C Swain 313 D Obremski del J Newman (1)57(9)5 E Andrews del M Pl otkin 368 R Gonzalez del M Lowe 15 8 S Moskwa del B Sell 92(0)2 B Hawkes del P Britos (7)102 (5) 10 B Harnett del S Morey 6(3)40 G Peck del C Scott (0) 1038 D Cohen del D Gross 4610 E Terry del D Thomas 589 S Oliver del S Fitzpatrick 882 G Price del D Green 517 R Wagner del J Nolan 126 A Gross del C Brysman 5510 D Peck del D Steger 821

A big firs t for Gregg Peck

Round-of-16 Hogan del Lerner 6(10) 33 Andrews del Obremski 897 Gonzalez del Moskwa 216 Harnett del Hawkes (8)(2)952 G Peck del Cohen (8)919 Terry del Oliver (3)10(8)108 Pr ice del Wagner 759 D Peck del A Gross 561

Quarterfinal Round Hogan del Andrews (8)(1)2104 Harnett del Gonzalez 89(8)4 G Peck del Terry 1061 Price del D Peck 26(7)7

Semifinal Round Hogan del Harnett 9 75 G Peck del Price 4(9)56

Final Round G PECK del Hogan 923 bull

Gregg Peck in the winners circle for the first time

$ 1000 CO

The Mental Game

MAINTAINING OBJECTIVITY ON THE RACQUETBALL COURT

Roger Tilton is a licensed clinical psyshychologist in private practice in Riverside California He holds a Ph D in psycholshyogy and is a part time professor of psyshychology at California State Polytechnic University Pomona California Mr Tilton is also an avid racquetball player

A s a clinical psychologist who plays a good deal of racquetball I have noticed that many racshy

quetball players are not objective in evashyluating their matches and in assessing their own strengths and weaknesses The most frequent example of this is the fact that many players seem to almost tota lly ignore the role of their opponent in detershymining the outcome of a match When they lose they believe that it is because they played poorly as if their opponent really had nothing to do with it This is especially true in tournaments where the single most frequent statement ] have heard is ] should have won it but I just wasnt playing welL It sometimes sounds like all the players who lost should have won

Although it is undoubtedly true that you will sometimes play poorly and lose to an inferior opponent it is important to realize that the outcome of a match is a function of several factors These include how well you play how well your opposhynent plays the interaction of your particushylar styles that is how your strengths and weaknesses match up and to some extent luck

Why is it difficult for many players to maintain a realistic and objective attitude toward their racquetball game Probashybly the single factor which most intershyferes with this is the need to maintain ones sell-esteem or sell-image Many serious racquetball players see racquetshyball as an important part of their lives and identify with it to the extent that losing to anyone but an obviously superior player may present a painful threat to their selfshyimage By blaming their own poor play rather than acknowledging that their opponent may have simply beaten them they protect middottheir self-image and make the defeat less painful Most of us have a tendency to view our own talents and

by Roger Ti Iton

The most frequent statement I have heard is IiI should have won it but I wasnt playing well it sounds like all the players who lost should have won abil n an oly po bght and w I may unknowingly use defense mechashynisms such as denial and rationalization (finding excuses) to protect this idealized image of ourselves This results in a disshytortion of reality and a loss of objectivity

For the sake of illustration lets look at the most extreme example of a player who lacks objectivity on the court the player who cheats Fortunately I have found such players to be rare in racquetshyball but youve probably encountered someone like this at some time This pershyson has such an overidealized notion of his own ability that he cant stand to lose since this is too threatening to his inflated self-esteem He must win at all costs and will cheat if necessary And most amazshyingly if you do not give him every call which he disputes he will accuse you of cheating If he loses he can then blame it

on the false notion that you cheated and he will actually believe this In this way he doesn t have to accept the fact that he might have been outplayed The degree of distortion in such a players perception both literally and psychologically can be amaZIng

A much more typical example of a player losing his objectivity is provided by a match] recently] played in a tournashyment The other player had excellent form and a great deal of power but he lacked consistency and had an ineffective serve I was able to beat him because] was playing very consistently placing my shots well and serving well During the second game when ] had a substantial lead my opponent screamed Im going to beat you because Im better than you ] won the game 15-1 However ] am convinced that he still thought he was better than me and that he had lost only because he wasnt playing well Although he may have been playing below his norshymal level of play and I must admit] was playing very well relative to my ability an objective analysis of the match would show that he had a rather ineffective serve had much power that was neutralshyized by a lack of consistency and control and probably had a great deal of difficulty playing a consistent control player with a better serve than his since this style played into his weaknesses His need to preserve his self-image likely prevented him from seeing these weaknesses and understanding the reasons why he lost His loss of objectivity makes it unlikely that he will learn anything from his matches

So how then can you increase your objectivity on the racquetball court First try to be objective about your own ability ] think that what some players do is to measure their ability in terms of how they play at their best This is unrealistic since one of the main determinants of ability is consistency If you usually play like an A player then youre an A player But if you sometimes play on an A level but most frequently on a B level and sometimes even lower then you are not an A player You should strive to play at the highest

contd bottom page 36

33

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55 WPRA INVITATIONAL

Lynn Adams Wins Anchorage

Lynn Adams

A surprise attack by the Russhysians a leak in the Alaska Pipeline an assault by a band

of wild huskies Any of these occurrances might have accomplished what Vicki Panzeri could not-stop the Lynn Adams steamroller at the sixth annual Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball classic on August 2-5 at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage Panzeri of nearby Seattle a major racquetball force in her own right and the Womens Professional Racquetshyball Associations fifth-ranked player was frozen in the final of the $6000 WPRA special event by a 21-14 21-12 21-6 score Adams who finished the 1983-84 season as the second-ranked player claimed her third consecutive Anchorage title in front of a packed house

The 27-year-old Costa Mesa Califorshynia native like any professional athlete worth his or her salt utilized her own strengths but adjusted to Panzeris style of play to chalk upthevictory her fourth on this years tour She plays a completely different style of game than I do comshymented Adams She slows up the pace a lot and I have to make sure that I don t in turn change my own rhythm As Adams rhythm is one of constant presshysure and speed it is no wonder that Panzeri had trouble handling the Adams arsenal of weapons

The match against the WPRAs Number Two represented Panzeris first finals appearance of the 1983-84 season She had earlier notched two semifinal

PSYCH from page 32

level of which you are capable but should not always expect it of yourself The highest levels of your own play are probshyably more indicative of your potential than your actual ability at this point

If you allow yourself to maintain an objective attitude toward your racquetshyball playing you will gain in two imporshy

credits in Auburn Massachusetts and Anaheim California as well as a pair of quarterfinal finishes in Atlanta and Banshygor Maine The number five year-end ranking duplicated her 1982-83 effort

The Midnight Sun Pro-Am is a WPRA-approved event featuring a single-elimination format in which the round of 16 pits a pro against an amateur player In first-round action Adams dumped Karen Kuren 21-5 21-8 21-4 Robin Rodriguez mauled Lynn Meier 21-421-721-4 in a contest of amashyteurs Jennifer Harding the WPRAs 15th-ranked player whizzed past Kathy Wisthoff who also happened to be the tournament director by a 21-3 21-7 21-5 margin Caryn McKinney the fourth seed glided to victory over Cathy Gardner 21-4 21-7 21 -17 third seed Terri Gilreath hazed Susan Hankins 21shy621-921-8 Marcy Lynch a quicklyshyimproving 20th on the rankings flew past Lou Fuzzard 21-7 21-3 21-8 Marci Drexler winner of all the major womens amateur titles this year and newly-turned promising pro crunched Jan Kilpatrick 21-1421-721-16 and Panzeri moved past Patricia Maguire 21-5 21-5 21-12

The quarterfinals at the Alaska Athletic Club saw Adams rip Rodriguez 21-4 21-12 21-10 McKinney struggle past Harding 21-14 21-1718-2121-17 Gilreath laminate Lynch 21-14 21-17 21-14 and Panzeri paste Drexler 24shy22 21-1121-18

In the semifinals Adams comfortably

tant ways First you will be more realistic about your own current ability and will be more accepting of yourself even when youre not playing as well as you would like This relieves unnecessary pressure on yourself and enables you to analyze what youre doing wrong and make necesshysary adjustments Secondly you will be able to look at your opponent as a possishy

defeated McKinney by a 21-14 21-10 21-15 score and Panzeri survived a nipshyand-tuck battle with the agile Gilreath to emerge a 21-16 20-22 21-17 21 -15 victor

6th Annual Midnight Sun Pro-Am Alaska Athletic Club Anchorage Alaska August 2-5 1984

Round-of-16 Lynn Adams del Karen Duren 21-5 21-8 21-4 Robin Rodriguez del Lynn Meier 21-4 21shy7 21-4 Jennifer Harding del Kathy Wisthoff 21-3 21-721-5 Caryn Mc Kinney del Cathy Gardner 21-4 21-7 21-17 Terri Gilreath del Susan Hankins 21-6 21shy9 21-8 Marcy Lynch del Lou Fuzzard 21-7 21-3 21-8 Marci Drexler del Jan Kilpatrick 21-14 21shy721-16 Vicki Panzeri del Patricia Maguire 21-5 21shy521-12

Quarterfinal Round Adams del Rodriguez 21-4 21-12 21-10 McKinney del Harding 21-14 21-1 718-21 21-17 Gilreath del Lynch 21-14 21-17 21-14 Panzeri del Drexler 24-22 21-11 21-18

Semifinal Round Adams del McKinney 21-14 21-10 21-15 Panzeri del Gilreath 21-16 20-22 21-17 21-15

Final Round ADAMS del Panzeri 21-14 21-12 21-6

bull ble factor in how you are playing This will enable you to make adjustments in your game plan if necessary while you will also be able to learn more about your own strengths and weaknesses from the matches you play The ultimate reward will be winning more matches and makshying a faster improvement in your game

bull 36

BY STEVE STRANDEMO AND BILL BRUNS

ADVANCED RAC~UETBALL

PART 4 THE SERVE

Editors Notemiddot This article Part Four in Advanced Racquetball will be divided into two sections because its original length was too long to be printed in its entirety The second half will appear In our November issue

Introduction Steve Strandemo and Bill Bruns proved to be

a winning team with their best-selling The Racquetball Book a comprehensive guide to playing the game They followed this up with the popular Advanced Racquetball which provides expert advice for any player who takes the sport seriously In both books Strandemo drew on his years of experience as one of the games most renowned players as well as the insights gained from teaching the game to thousands of players around the country

Both Strandemo books were published by Wallaby Books adivision of Simon and Schuster and are available at most book stores For an opportunity to have Steve give your game his personal attention write to him about his instructional camps CO Strandemo Racquetshyball Camps PO Box 24445 San Diego CA 92124

Good serving is built upon many indishyvidual approaches your location in the service box your step motion into

the-ball your stroke and your method of relocashytion Yet in striving for an expert serve theres not some unique overall style you must uncover achievable only by the pros This chapter will give you the key guidelines that you can actually tackle on your own in practice Then as you play theres always an objective measurement of your effectiveness how consistently you can get the ball deep into the back corners and by doing so either (1) have the possibility of an ace (2) force a weak return or (3) cause your

nIIEm

a s

These are your important front -wall targets on the serve when contacting the ball from the middle of the court Remember that when you readjust your position in eithe(iJirection these targets will all shift accordingly and because of the angles involved some of them Will be eliminated-either because your location will make them Impossible to hit or to avoid being guilty of a screen

37

opponent to go defensively to the ceiling Conshyversely you want to mini mize his good offensive opportunities by keeping the ball from coming off the walls as a setup

The Low-Drive Serve

Build your attack around this serve for when you can make the ball bounce just beyond the short line-between you and the side wall on the floor-you will neutralize the best of opposhynents Of course applying this pressure dema nds pinpoint accuracy as you try to hit front-wall target areas that are much smaller th~n comshymonly-visua~zed -Ive found for example that Im aiming for a rectangular target about 4 inches high and 9 inches wide If I hit slightly lower the serve is short if Im slightly higher the ball rebounds off the back wall for a setup This target area is about the same size for most advanced players but its location up and down will vary-depending upon the velocity of your seve and how low you can get your racquet into the shot so that you can hit with aslight upward stroke giving the ball an arc to safely clear the short line

Beginners can aim for larger targets because their opponents lack the ability to ca pitalize as often on serves that are hit either too high or at too wide an angle But in tougher competition the premium is on accuracy your target areas must shrink and you must hit them more freshy

quently since your opponents can put away ma ny more of your misses or certainly force you onto the defensive Youre trying to give your opponent minimum reaction time but more important you want to pin him deep along the side walls and in the back corners withourallowshying him a chance to set up

Find Your Front- Wall Targets

If youve been relying on instinct and expeshyrience to sense where you should hit the front wall its unlikely that you can point to your actual low-drive targets Not to worry if youve developed a great serve but when inconsisshytency is a big problem-as it is for most players-heres an easy method to determine your exact target areas in practice

As you serve have a friend stand near the front wall (safely to one side) and mark where the ball hits this wall while you watch the path of the ball so you can categorize the serve as short good or long Ideally if you use peel-off stickers in three different colors to mark the corresponding spots on the wall youll soon have a visual target area outlining where you want to hit (Remember that an excellent serve either takes two bounces before the back wall or hits the floor correctly and barely nicks the side wall In either case the ball doesnt come off either wall as a setup)

Once youve established your target areas from a particular contact position in the service

box you still must rely on feel when you actually playa match But youll develop a sounder serve and one that causes you far less anxiety under pressure if you spend time getshyting that relationship fixed between where you contact the ball and the target area_ Then instead of relying on guesswork to make adjustshyments you can be oblective Even though I now realize just how small my targets are I know where they are and I actually serve better said a friend I concentrate more on what Im doing and if Im missing I know its just a matter of hitting acouple of inches higher or lower on the front wall So I get a lot less frustrated with myself

Footwork Motion in the Service Box

Good serving (on low-drives and hard Zs) starts with a two-step motion into the ball that covers as much of the 5-foot service box as you can comfortably manage This helps generate maximum leg power and upper-body momenshytum into the shot As the photographs show the first step is usually a short preparation step by the right foot perhaps 12 inches straight or diagonally toward the front wall followed by a long power stride with the left leg Contact the ball off your front foot from calf to Just above knee level depending upon how low you can get (by bending your back knee and bending at the waist or dipping your hitting shoulder) in order

- -I I

III

targets for your hard aggressive serves are shown large for purposes of In reality to be effective in advanced play you must hit target areas that are _ ration approximately 4middotbymiddot9 inches in size

J hit slightly up at the ball Heres where you I Iso want solid forehand technique-a whipshy=ng and an explosive wrist snap in the impact me

)elocation After Serving

Relocation is an easy and natural shuffling lotion to deep court when your opponent goes tMe ceiling However if he tries to go low zone 11th your serve relocation becomes much ugher because of the minimal time involved - IS is a crucial skill but one that too often is -~glected by advancing players which greatly

limits their progress Remember racquetball is played primarily in the back half of the court and you cant afford to remain in the service box thinking you can handle the well middotplaced returns Of an opponent Work hard to reach as solid a covering position as time allows-ideally 3 or 4 feet behi nd the back service line-knowing that there will still be many times when your oppomiddot nent stretches over and returns the ball offenmiddot sively before youre ready

Trying to relocate properly behind the service box after serving aggressively is one of the toughest Jobsin racquetball Your momentum is going forward as you land on your left foot and

now you must bank and go the other way as quickly as possible by driving off your left leg while pivoting with your right leg Maintaining good body control through all of this is equally important since you want to be ready to break in any direction to cover your opponents return Try to relocate close to the middle of the court (between the side walls) shading just slightly to the side your opponent is on but giving him clearance to hit downmiddotthe-line or crossmiddotcourt

After serving immediately look back to see the path of the ball and then study your oppomiddot nent to see whether hes going low zone or high

c9Y to begin his motion into the ball the The first step is normally about 12 inches in This short preparatory step is followed by a long = ler has his feet on the short line so that he can thiS case just a back crossmiddotover step but there are powerful stride forward setting up the ideal fore middot _ the entire 5middotfoot service zone many variations hand stroke The server plants the left foot and

comes through with all his power

39

2

Relocating Afte r The Serve When the server snaps the ball properly into aback corner he should relocate diagonally back as indishycated by the arrows (1) If he misses his target to either side he may have to adjust straight back or move to the other side of the court

He stays low as he comple tes a powerful stroke while ma intaining good body balance (2)

Quick and efficient movement out of the service box starts with this simultaneous action-pivoting on the right foot and driving back with the left leg (3)

Try to get your left foot back as far as possible (4) while studying your opponents in tentions

For a low-drive serve the ball should be hit on aslightly upward are allowing it to be hit hard while safely carrying the short line The server is contacting the ball about 6 to 8 inches off the floor and aiming for a frontwall target about 18 inches high (as indicated by the yardstiCk)

40

--------------------------------------------_-------- - ----shy

4

Along shuffle step (5) will now move you far enough back hopefully to avoid being jammed by an opposhynent s quick low-lone return

lf you see that your opponent is going to the ceiling (6) retreat to the back of the court where her shot is going to locate

lf your opponent is going low lone (7) anchor down as you try to read his return-and be ready to move

lone Reading his intef1tions~right up until impact will give you invaluable information as you anticipate your next shot Conversely if you turn back to the front wall before your opponent goes to hit you ve reached a plateau in your improvement because you have no anticipation

This low -drive angle has the ball traveling straight into the back corner landing between the server and the side wall and bouncing twice before reaching the back wall

41

------

~

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bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

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I

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I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

The World Of International Racquetball Is Yours

Subscribe Today Racquetball is bigger than ever Join the exciteshyment and save 25 to 37 off our cover price Just fill in the form below and mail it in

---------------------------- ~ Subscription Form shyfVQfj( ra1 1

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34

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55 WPRA INVITATIONAL

Lynn Adams Wins Anchorage

Lynn Adams

A surprise attack by the Russhysians a leak in the Alaska Pipeline an assault by a band

of wild huskies Any of these occurrances might have accomplished what Vicki Panzeri could not-stop the Lynn Adams steamroller at the sixth annual Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball classic on August 2-5 at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage Panzeri of nearby Seattle a major racquetball force in her own right and the Womens Professional Racquetshyball Associations fifth-ranked player was frozen in the final of the $6000 WPRA special event by a 21-14 21-12 21-6 score Adams who finished the 1983-84 season as the second-ranked player claimed her third consecutive Anchorage title in front of a packed house

The 27-year-old Costa Mesa Califorshynia native like any professional athlete worth his or her salt utilized her own strengths but adjusted to Panzeris style of play to chalk upthevictory her fourth on this years tour She plays a completely different style of game than I do comshymented Adams She slows up the pace a lot and I have to make sure that I don t in turn change my own rhythm As Adams rhythm is one of constant presshysure and speed it is no wonder that Panzeri had trouble handling the Adams arsenal of weapons

The match against the WPRAs Number Two represented Panzeris first finals appearance of the 1983-84 season She had earlier notched two semifinal

PSYCH from page 32

level of which you are capable but should not always expect it of yourself The highest levels of your own play are probshyably more indicative of your potential than your actual ability at this point

If you allow yourself to maintain an objective attitude toward your racquetshyball playing you will gain in two imporshy

credits in Auburn Massachusetts and Anaheim California as well as a pair of quarterfinal finishes in Atlanta and Banshygor Maine The number five year-end ranking duplicated her 1982-83 effort

The Midnight Sun Pro-Am is a WPRA-approved event featuring a single-elimination format in which the round of 16 pits a pro against an amateur player In first-round action Adams dumped Karen Kuren 21-5 21-8 21-4 Robin Rodriguez mauled Lynn Meier 21-421-721-4 in a contest of amashyteurs Jennifer Harding the WPRAs 15th-ranked player whizzed past Kathy Wisthoff who also happened to be the tournament director by a 21-3 21-7 21-5 margin Caryn McKinney the fourth seed glided to victory over Cathy Gardner 21-4 21-7 21 -17 third seed Terri Gilreath hazed Susan Hankins 21shy621-921-8 Marcy Lynch a quicklyshyimproving 20th on the rankings flew past Lou Fuzzard 21-7 21-3 21-8 Marci Drexler winner of all the major womens amateur titles this year and newly-turned promising pro crunched Jan Kilpatrick 21-1421-721-16 and Panzeri moved past Patricia Maguire 21-5 21-5 21-12

The quarterfinals at the Alaska Athletic Club saw Adams rip Rodriguez 21-4 21-12 21-10 McKinney struggle past Harding 21-14 21-1718-2121-17 Gilreath laminate Lynch 21-14 21-17 21-14 and Panzeri paste Drexler 24shy22 21-1121-18

In the semifinals Adams comfortably

tant ways First you will be more realistic about your own current ability and will be more accepting of yourself even when youre not playing as well as you would like This relieves unnecessary pressure on yourself and enables you to analyze what youre doing wrong and make necesshysary adjustments Secondly you will be able to look at your opponent as a possishy

defeated McKinney by a 21-14 21-10 21-15 score and Panzeri survived a nipshyand-tuck battle with the agile Gilreath to emerge a 21-16 20-22 21-17 21 -15 victor

6th Annual Midnight Sun Pro-Am Alaska Athletic Club Anchorage Alaska August 2-5 1984

Round-of-16 Lynn Adams del Karen Duren 21-5 21-8 21-4 Robin Rodriguez del Lynn Meier 21-4 21shy7 21-4 Jennifer Harding del Kathy Wisthoff 21-3 21-721-5 Caryn Mc Kinney del Cathy Gardner 21-4 21-7 21-17 Terri Gilreath del Susan Hankins 21-6 21shy9 21-8 Marcy Lynch del Lou Fuzzard 21-7 21-3 21-8 Marci Drexler del Jan Kilpatrick 21-14 21shy721-16 Vicki Panzeri del Patricia Maguire 21-5 21shy521-12

Quarterfinal Round Adams del Rodriguez 21-4 21-12 21-10 McKinney del Harding 21-14 21-1 718-21 21-17 Gilreath del Lynch 21-14 21-17 21-14 Panzeri del Drexler 24-22 21-11 21-18

Semifinal Round Adams del McKinney 21-14 21-10 21-15 Panzeri del Gilreath 21-16 20-22 21-17 21-15

Final Round ADAMS del Panzeri 21-14 21-12 21-6

bull ble factor in how you are playing This will enable you to make adjustments in your game plan if necessary while you will also be able to learn more about your own strengths and weaknesses from the matches you play The ultimate reward will be winning more matches and makshying a faster improvement in your game

bull 36

BY STEVE STRANDEMO AND BILL BRUNS

ADVANCED RAC~UETBALL

PART 4 THE SERVE

Editors Notemiddot This article Part Four in Advanced Racquetball will be divided into two sections because its original length was too long to be printed in its entirety The second half will appear In our November issue

Introduction Steve Strandemo and Bill Bruns proved to be

a winning team with their best-selling The Racquetball Book a comprehensive guide to playing the game They followed this up with the popular Advanced Racquetball which provides expert advice for any player who takes the sport seriously In both books Strandemo drew on his years of experience as one of the games most renowned players as well as the insights gained from teaching the game to thousands of players around the country

Both Strandemo books were published by Wallaby Books adivision of Simon and Schuster and are available at most book stores For an opportunity to have Steve give your game his personal attention write to him about his instructional camps CO Strandemo Racquetshyball Camps PO Box 24445 San Diego CA 92124

Good serving is built upon many indishyvidual approaches your location in the service box your step motion into

the-ball your stroke and your method of relocashytion Yet in striving for an expert serve theres not some unique overall style you must uncover achievable only by the pros This chapter will give you the key guidelines that you can actually tackle on your own in practice Then as you play theres always an objective measurement of your effectiveness how consistently you can get the ball deep into the back corners and by doing so either (1) have the possibility of an ace (2) force a weak return or (3) cause your

nIIEm

a s

These are your important front -wall targets on the serve when contacting the ball from the middle of the court Remember that when you readjust your position in eithe(iJirection these targets will all shift accordingly and because of the angles involved some of them Will be eliminated-either because your location will make them Impossible to hit or to avoid being guilty of a screen

37

opponent to go defensively to the ceiling Conshyversely you want to mini mize his good offensive opportunities by keeping the ball from coming off the walls as a setup

The Low-Drive Serve

Build your attack around this serve for when you can make the ball bounce just beyond the short line-between you and the side wall on the floor-you will neutralize the best of opposhynents Of course applying this pressure dema nds pinpoint accuracy as you try to hit front-wall target areas that are much smaller th~n comshymonly-visua~zed -Ive found for example that Im aiming for a rectangular target about 4 inches high and 9 inches wide If I hit slightly lower the serve is short if Im slightly higher the ball rebounds off the back wall for a setup This target area is about the same size for most advanced players but its location up and down will vary-depending upon the velocity of your seve and how low you can get your racquet into the shot so that you can hit with aslight upward stroke giving the ball an arc to safely clear the short line

Beginners can aim for larger targets because their opponents lack the ability to ca pitalize as often on serves that are hit either too high or at too wide an angle But in tougher competition the premium is on accuracy your target areas must shrink and you must hit them more freshy

quently since your opponents can put away ma ny more of your misses or certainly force you onto the defensive Youre trying to give your opponent minimum reaction time but more important you want to pin him deep along the side walls and in the back corners withourallowshying him a chance to set up

Find Your Front- Wall Targets

If youve been relying on instinct and expeshyrience to sense where you should hit the front wall its unlikely that you can point to your actual low-drive targets Not to worry if youve developed a great serve but when inconsisshytency is a big problem-as it is for most players-heres an easy method to determine your exact target areas in practice

As you serve have a friend stand near the front wall (safely to one side) and mark where the ball hits this wall while you watch the path of the ball so you can categorize the serve as short good or long Ideally if you use peel-off stickers in three different colors to mark the corresponding spots on the wall youll soon have a visual target area outlining where you want to hit (Remember that an excellent serve either takes two bounces before the back wall or hits the floor correctly and barely nicks the side wall In either case the ball doesnt come off either wall as a setup)

Once youve established your target areas from a particular contact position in the service

box you still must rely on feel when you actually playa match But youll develop a sounder serve and one that causes you far less anxiety under pressure if you spend time getshyting that relationship fixed between where you contact the ball and the target area_ Then instead of relying on guesswork to make adjustshyments you can be oblective Even though I now realize just how small my targets are I know where they are and I actually serve better said a friend I concentrate more on what Im doing and if Im missing I know its just a matter of hitting acouple of inches higher or lower on the front wall So I get a lot less frustrated with myself

Footwork Motion in the Service Box

Good serving (on low-drives and hard Zs) starts with a two-step motion into the ball that covers as much of the 5-foot service box as you can comfortably manage This helps generate maximum leg power and upper-body momenshytum into the shot As the photographs show the first step is usually a short preparation step by the right foot perhaps 12 inches straight or diagonally toward the front wall followed by a long power stride with the left leg Contact the ball off your front foot from calf to Just above knee level depending upon how low you can get (by bending your back knee and bending at the waist or dipping your hitting shoulder) in order

- -I I

III

targets for your hard aggressive serves are shown large for purposes of In reality to be effective in advanced play you must hit target areas that are _ ration approximately 4middotbymiddot9 inches in size

J hit slightly up at the ball Heres where you I Iso want solid forehand technique-a whipshy=ng and an explosive wrist snap in the impact me

)elocation After Serving

Relocation is an easy and natural shuffling lotion to deep court when your opponent goes tMe ceiling However if he tries to go low zone 11th your serve relocation becomes much ugher because of the minimal time involved - IS is a crucial skill but one that too often is -~glected by advancing players which greatly

limits their progress Remember racquetball is played primarily in the back half of the court and you cant afford to remain in the service box thinking you can handle the well middotplaced returns Of an opponent Work hard to reach as solid a covering position as time allows-ideally 3 or 4 feet behi nd the back service line-knowing that there will still be many times when your oppomiddot nent stretches over and returns the ball offenmiddot sively before youre ready

Trying to relocate properly behind the service box after serving aggressively is one of the toughest Jobsin racquetball Your momentum is going forward as you land on your left foot and

now you must bank and go the other way as quickly as possible by driving off your left leg while pivoting with your right leg Maintaining good body control through all of this is equally important since you want to be ready to break in any direction to cover your opponents return Try to relocate close to the middle of the court (between the side walls) shading just slightly to the side your opponent is on but giving him clearance to hit downmiddotthe-line or crossmiddotcourt

After serving immediately look back to see the path of the ball and then study your oppomiddot nent to see whether hes going low zone or high

c9Y to begin his motion into the ball the The first step is normally about 12 inches in This short preparatory step is followed by a long = ler has his feet on the short line so that he can thiS case just a back crossmiddotover step but there are powerful stride forward setting up the ideal fore middot _ the entire 5middotfoot service zone many variations hand stroke The server plants the left foot and

comes through with all his power

39

2

Relocating Afte r The Serve When the server snaps the ball properly into aback corner he should relocate diagonally back as indishycated by the arrows (1) If he misses his target to either side he may have to adjust straight back or move to the other side of the court

He stays low as he comple tes a powerful stroke while ma intaining good body balance (2)

Quick and efficient movement out of the service box starts with this simultaneous action-pivoting on the right foot and driving back with the left leg (3)

Try to get your left foot back as far as possible (4) while studying your opponents in tentions

For a low-drive serve the ball should be hit on aslightly upward are allowing it to be hit hard while safely carrying the short line The server is contacting the ball about 6 to 8 inches off the floor and aiming for a frontwall target about 18 inches high (as indicated by the yardstiCk)

40

--------------------------------------------_-------- - ----shy

4

Along shuffle step (5) will now move you far enough back hopefully to avoid being jammed by an opposhynent s quick low-lone return

lf you see that your opponent is going to the ceiling (6) retreat to the back of the court where her shot is going to locate

lf your opponent is going low lone (7) anchor down as you try to read his return-and be ready to move

lone Reading his intef1tions~right up until impact will give you invaluable information as you anticipate your next shot Conversely if you turn back to the front wall before your opponent goes to hit you ve reached a plateau in your improvement because you have no anticipation

This low -drive angle has the ball traveling straight into the back corner landing between the server and the side wall and bouncing twice before reaching the back wall

41

------

~

I

I

I

I

-8

bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

I I

I

I

I bullbull ~

I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

Weve got a love affair going with a fleet of Tall Ships and were looking for an intimate group of congenial guys and gals to share our decks

Were not the Love Boat but well take on anybody when it comes to sailing and fun in the exotic Caribbean Theres runnin with the wind to great ports 0 call for those with itchy feet and a love of adventure Cruises to

the loveliest places in parashydise start from $425 Wed love to send your our brochure

8 Wlndl~mmcu Po Box 120 Miami Beach FL 33119-0120 TOLL FREE (800) 327-2600

in FL (800) 432-3364

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Box 120 Dept Miami Beach FL 33119-0120 CITYSTATEZ IP _____________________________ - --shy- --

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55 WPRA INVITATIONAL

Lynn Adams Wins Anchorage

Lynn Adams

A surprise attack by the Russhysians a leak in the Alaska Pipeline an assault by a band

of wild huskies Any of these occurrances might have accomplished what Vicki Panzeri could not-stop the Lynn Adams steamroller at the sixth annual Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball classic on August 2-5 at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage Panzeri of nearby Seattle a major racquetball force in her own right and the Womens Professional Racquetshyball Associations fifth-ranked player was frozen in the final of the $6000 WPRA special event by a 21-14 21-12 21-6 score Adams who finished the 1983-84 season as the second-ranked player claimed her third consecutive Anchorage title in front of a packed house

The 27-year-old Costa Mesa Califorshynia native like any professional athlete worth his or her salt utilized her own strengths but adjusted to Panzeris style of play to chalk upthevictory her fourth on this years tour She plays a completely different style of game than I do comshymented Adams She slows up the pace a lot and I have to make sure that I don t in turn change my own rhythm As Adams rhythm is one of constant presshysure and speed it is no wonder that Panzeri had trouble handling the Adams arsenal of weapons

The match against the WPRAs Number Two represented Panzeris first finals appearance of the 1983-84 season She had earlier notched two semifinal

PSYCH from page 32

level of which you are capable but should not always expect it of yourself The highest levels of your own play are probshyably more indicative of your potential than your actual ability at this point

If you allow yourself to maintain an objective attitude toward your racquetshyball playing you will gain in two imporshy

credits in Auburn Massachusetts and Anaheim California as well as a pair of quarterfinal finishes in Atlanta and Banshygor Maine The number five year-end ranking duplicated her 1982-83 effort

The Midnight Sun Pro-Am is a WPRA-approved event featuring a single-elimination format in which the round of 16 pits a pro against an amateur player In first-round action Adams dumped Karen Kuren 21-5 21-8 21-4 Robin Rodriguez mauled Lynn Meier 21-421-721-4 in a contest of amashyteurs Jennifer Harding the WPRAs 15th-ranked player whizzed past Kathy Wisthoff who also happened to be the tournament director by a 21-3 21-7 21-5 margin Caryn McKinney the fourth seed glided to victory over Cathy Gardner 21-4 21-7 21 -17 third seed Terri Gilreath hazed Susan Hankins 21shy621-921-8 Marcy Lynch a quicklyshyimproving 20th on the rankings flew past Lou Fuzzard 21-7 21-3 21-8 Marci Drexler winner of all the major womens amateur titles this year and newly-turned promising pro crunched Jan Kilpatrick 21-1421-721-16 and Panzeri moved past Patricia Maguire 21-5 21-5 21-12

The quarterfinals at the Alaska Athletic Club saw Adams rip Rodriguez 21-4 21-12 21-10 McKinney struggle past Harding 21-14 21-1718-2121-17 Gilreath laminate Lynch 21-14 21-17 21-14 and Panzeri paste Drexler 24shy22 21-1121-18

In the semifinals Adams comfortably

tant ways First you will be more realistic about your own current ability and will be more accepting of yourself even when youre not playing as well as you would like This relieves unnecessary pressure on yourself and enables you to analyze what youre doing wrong and make necesshysary adjustments Secondly you will be able to look at your opponent as a possishy

defeated McKinney by a 21-14 21-10 21-15 score and Panzeri survived a nipshyand-tuck battle with the agile Gilreath to emerge a 21-16 20-22 21-17 21 -15 victor

6th Annual Midnight Sun Pro-Am Alaska Athletic Club Anchorage Alaska August 2-5 1984

Round-of-16 Lynn Adams del Karen Duren 21-5 21-8 21-4 Robin Rodriguez del Lynn Meier 21-4 21shy7 21-4 Jennifer Harding del Kathy Wisthoff 21-3 21-721-5 Caryn Mc Kinney del Cathy Gardner 21-4 21-7 21-17 Terri Gilreath del Susan Hankins 21-6 21shy9 21-8 Marcy Lynch del Lou Fuzzard 21-7 21-3 21-8 Marci Drexler del Jan Kilpatrick 21-14 21shy721-16 Vicki Panzeri del Patricia Maguire 21-5 21shy521-12

Quarterfinal Round Adams del Rodriguez 21-4 21-12 21-10 McKinney del Harding 21-14 21-1 718-21 21-17 Gilreath del Lynch 21-14 21-17 21-14 Panzeri del Drexler 24-22 21-11 21-18

Semifinal Round Adams del McKinney 21-14 21-10 21-15 Panzeri del Gilreath 21-16 20-22 21-17 21-15

Final Round ADAMS del Panzeri 21-14 21-12 21-6

bull ble factor in how you are playing This will enable you to make adjustments in your game plan if necessary while you will also be able to learn more about your own strengths and weaknesses from the matches you play The ultimate reward will be winning more matches and makshying a faster improvement in your game

bull 36

BY STEVE STRANDEMO AND BILL BRUNS

ADVANCED RAC~UETBALL

PART 4 THE SERVE

Editors Notemiddot This article Part Four in Advanced Racquetball will be divided into two sections because its original length was too long to be printed in its entirety The second half will appear In our November issue

Introduction Steve Strandemo and Bill Bruns proved to be

a winning team with their best-selling The Racquetball Book a comprehensive guide to playing the game They followed this up with the popular Advanced Racquetball which provides expert advice for any player who takes the sport seriously In both books Strandemo drew on his years of experience as one of the games most renowned players as well as the insights gained from teaching the game to thousands of players around the country

Both Strandemo books were published by Wallaby Books adivision of Simon and Schuster and are available at most book stores For an opportunity to have Steve give your game his personal attention write to him about his instructional camps CO Strandemo Racquetshyball Camps PO Box 24445 San Diego CA 92124

Good serving is built upon many indishyvidual approaches your location in the service box your step motion into

the-ball your stroke and your method of relocashytion Yet in striving for an expert serve theres not some unique overall style you must uncover achievable only by the pros This chapter will give you the key guidelines that you can actually tackle on your own in practice Then as you play theres always an objective measurement of your effectiveness how consistently you can get the ball deep into the back corners and by doing so either (1) have the possibility of an ace (2) force a weak return or (3) cause your

nIIEm

a s

These are your important front -wall targets on the serve when contacting the ball from the middle of the court Remember that when you readjust your position in eithe(iJirection these targets will all shift accordingly and because of the angles involved some of them Will be eliminated-either because your location will make them Impossible to hit or to avoid being guilty of a screen

37

opponent to go defensively to the ceiling Conshyversely you want to mini mize his good offensive opportunities by keeping the ball from coming off the walls as a setup

The Low-Drive Serve

Build your attack around this serve for when you can make the ball bounce just beyond the short line-between you and the side wall on the floor-you will neutralize the best of opposhynents Of course applying this pressure dema nds pinpoint accuracy as you try to hit front-wall target areas that are much smaller th~n comshymonly-visua~zed -Ive found for example that Im aiming for a rectangular target about 4 inches high and 9 inches wide If I hit slightly lower the serve is short if Im slightly higher the ball rebounds off the back wall for a setup This target area is about the same size for most advanced players but its location up and down will vary-depending upon the velocity of your seve and how low you can get your racquet into the shot so that you can hit with aslight upward stroke giving the ball an arc to safely clear the short line

Beginners can aim for larger targets because their opponents lack the ability to ca pitalize as often on serves that are hit either too high or at too wide an angle But in tougher competition the premium is on accuracy your target areas must shrink and you must hit them more freshy

quently since your opponents can put away ma ny more of your misses or certainly force you onto the defensive Youre trying to give your opponent minimum reaction time but more important you want to pin him deep along the side walls and in the back corners withourallowshying him a chance to set up

Find Your Front- Wall Targets

If youve been relying on instinct and expeshyrience to sense where you should hit the front wall its unlikely that you can point to your actual low-drive targets Not to worry if youve developed a great serve but when inconsisshytency is a big problem-as it is for most players-heres an easy method to determine your exact target areas in practice

As you serve have a friend stand near the front wall (safely to one side) and mark where the ball hits this wall while you watch the path of the ball so you can categorize the serve as short good or long Ideally if you use peel-off stickers in three different colors to mark the corresponding spots on the wall youll soon have a visual target area outlining where you want to hit (Remember that an excellent serve either takes two bounces before the back wall or hits the floor correctly and barely nicks the side wall In either case the ball doesnt come off either wall as a setup)

Once youve established your target areas from a particular contact position in the service

box you still must rely on feel when you actually playa match But youll develop a sounder serve and one that causes you far less anxiety under pressure if you spend time getshyting that relationship fixed between where you contact the ball and the target area_ Then instead of relying on guesswork to make adjustshyments you can be oblective Even though I now realize just how small my targets are I know where they are and I actually serve better said a friend I concentrate more on what Im doing and if Im missing I know its just a matter of hitting acouple of inches higher or lower on the front wall So I get a lot less frustrated with myself

Footwork Motion in the Service Box

Good serving (on low-drives and hard Zs) starts with a two-step motion into the ball that covers as much of the 5-foot service box as you can comfortably manage This helps generate maximum leg power and upper-body momenshytum into the shot As the photographs show the first step is usually a short preparation step by the right foot perhaps 12 inches straight or diagonally toward the front wall followed by a long power stride with the left leg Contact the ball off your front foot from calf to Just above knee level depending upon how low you can get (by bending your back knee and bending at the waist or dipping your hitting shoulder) in order

- -I I

III

targets for your hard aggressive serves are shown large for purposes of In reality to be effective in advanced play you must hit target areas that are _ ration approximately 4middotbymiddot9 inches in size

J hit slightly up at the ball Heres where you I Iso want solid forehand technique-a whipshy=ng and an explosive wrist snap in the impact me

)elocation After Serving

Relocation is an easy and natural shuffling lotion to deep court when your opponent goes tMe ceiling However if he tries to go low zone 11th your serve relocation becomes much ugher because of the minimal time involved - IS is a crucial skill but one that too often is -~glected by advancing players which greatly

limits their progress Remember racquetball is played primarily in the back half of the court and you cant afford to remain in the service box thinking you can handle the well middotplaced returns Of an opponent Work hard to reach as solid a covering position as time allows-ideally 3 or 4 feet behi nd the back service line-knowing that there will still be many times when your oppomiddot nent stretches over and returns the ball offenmiddot sively before youre ready

Trying to relocate properly behind the service box after serving aggressively is one of the toughest Jobsin racquetball Your momentum is going forward as you land on your left foot and

now you must bank and go the other way as quickly as possible by driving off your left leg while pivoting with your right leg Maintaining good body control through all of this is equally important since you want to be ready to break in any direction to cover your opponents return Try to relocate close to the middle of the court (between the side walls) shading just slightly to the side your opponent is on but giving him clearance to hit downmiddotthe-line or crossmiddotcourt

After serving immediately look back to see the path of the ball and then study your oppomiddot nent to see whether hes going low zone or high

c9Y to begin his motion into the ball the The first step is normally about 12 inches in This short preparatory step is followed by a long = ler has his feet on the short line so that he can thiS case just a back crossmiddotover step but there are powerful stride forward setting up the ideal fore middot _ the entire 5middotfoot service zone many variations hand stroke The server plants the left foot and

comes through with all his power

39

2

Relocating Afte r The Serve When the server snaps the ball properly into aback corner he should relocate diagonally back as indishycated by the arrows (1) If he misses his target to either side he may have to adjust straight back or move to the other side of the court

He stays low as he comple tes a powerful stroke while ma intaining good body balance (2)

Quick and efficient movement out of the service box starts with this simultaneous action-pivoting on the right foot and driving back with the left leg (3)

Try to get your left foot back as far as possible (4) while studying your opponents in tentions

For a low-drive serve the ball should be hit on aslightly upward are allowing it to be hit hard while safely carrying the short line The server is contacting the ball about 6 to 8 inches off the floor and aiming for a frontwall target about 18 inches high (as indicated by the yardstiCk)

40

--------------------------------------------_-------- - ----shy

4

Along shuffle step (5) will now move you far enough back hopefully to avoid being jammed by an opposhynent s quick low-lone return

lf you see that your opponent is going to the ceiling (6) retreat to the back of the court where her shot is going to locate

lf your opponent is going low lone (7) anchor down as you try to read his return-and be ready to move

lone Reading his intef1tions~right up until impact will give you invaluable information as you anticipate your next shot Conversely if you turn back to the front wall before your opponent goes to hit you ve reached a plateau in your improvement because you have no anticipation

This low -drive angle has the ball traveling straight into the back corner landing between the server and the side wall and bouncing twice before reaching the back wall

41

------

~

I

I

I

I

-8

bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

I I

I

I

I bullbull ~

I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

55 WPRA INVITATIONAL

Lynn Adams Wins Anchorage

Lynn Adams

A surprise attack by the Russhysians a leak in the Alaska Pipeline an assault by a band

of wild huskies Any of these occurrances might have accomplished what Vicki Panzeri could not-stop the Lynn Adams steamroller at the sixth annual Midnight Sun Pro-Am Racquetball classic on August 2-5 at the Alaska Athletic Club in Anchorage Panzeri of nearby Seattle a major racquetball force in her own right and the Womens Professional Racquetshyball Associations fifth-ranked player was frozen in the final of the $6000 WPRA special event by a 21-14 21-12 21-6 score Adams who finished the 1983-84 season as the second-ranked player claimed her third consecutive Anchorage title in front of a packed house

The 27-year-old Costa Mesa Califorshynia native like any professional athlete worth his or her salt utilized her own strengths but adjusted to Panzeris style of play to chalk upthevictory her fourth on this years tour She plays a completely different style of game than I do comshymented Adams She slows up the pace a lot and I have to make sure that I don t in turn change my own rhythm As Adams rhythm is one of constant presshysure and speed it is no wonder that Panzeri had trouble handling the Adams arsenal of weapons

The match against the WPRAs Number Two represented Panzeris first finals appearance of the 1983-84 season She had earlier notched two semifinal

PSYCH from page 32

level of which you are capable but should not always expect it of yourself The highest levels of your own play are probshyably more indicative of your potential than your actual ability at this point

If you allow yourself to maintain an objective attitude toward your racquetshyball playing you will gain in two imporshy

credits in Auburn Massachusetts and Anaheim California as well as a pair of quarterfinal finishes in Atlanta and Banshygor Maine The number five year-end ranking duplicated her 1982-83 effort

The Midnight Sun Pro-Am is a WPRA-approved event featuring a single-elimination format in which the round of 16 pits a pro against an amateur player In first-round action Adams dumped Karen Kuren 21-5 21-8 21-4 Robin Rodriguez mauled Lynn Meier 21-421-721-4 in a contest of amashyteurs Jennifer Harding the WPRAs 15th-ranked player whizzed past Kathy Wisthoff who also happened to be the tournament director by a 21-3 21-7 21-5 margin Caryn McKinney the fourth seed glided to victory over Cathy Gardner 21-4 21-7 21 -17 third seed Terri Gilreath hazed Susan Hankins 21shy621-921-8 Marcy Lynch a quicklyshyimproving 20th on the rankings flew past Lou Fuzzard 21-7 21-3 21-8 Marci Drexler winner of all the major womens amateur titles this year and newly-turned promising pro crunched Jan Kilpatrick 21-1421-721-16 and Panzeri moved past Patricia Maguire 21-5 21-5 21-12

The quarterfinals at the Alaska Athletic Club saw Adams rip Rodriguez 21-4 21-12 21-10 McKinney struggle past Harding 21-14 21-1718-2121-17 Gilreath laminate Lynch 21-14 21-17 21-14 and Panzeri paste Drexler 24shy22 21-1121-18

In the semifinals Adams comfortably

tant ways First you will be more realistic about your own current ability and will be more accepting of yourself even when youre not playing as well as you would like This relieves unnecessary pressure on yourself and enables you to analyze what youre doing wrong and make necesshysary adjustments Secondly you will be able to look at your opponent as a possishy

defeated McKinney by a 21-14 21-10 21-15 score and Panzeri survived a nipshyand-tuck battle with the agile Gilreath to emerge a 21-16 20-22 21-17 21 -15 victor

6th Annual Midnight Sun Pro-Am Alaska Athletic Club Anchorage Alaska August 2-5 1984

Round-of-16 Lynn Adams del Karen Duren 21-5 21-8 21-4 Robin Rodriguez del Lynn Meier 21-4 21shy7 21-4 Jennifer Harding del Kathy Wisthoff 21-3 21-721-5 Caryn Mc Kinney del Cathy Gardner 21-4 21-7 21-17 Terri Gilreath del Susan Hankins 21-6 21shy9 21-8 Marcy Lynch del Lou Fuzzard 21-7 21-3 21-8 Marci Drexler del Jan Kilpatrick 21-14 21shy721-16 Vicki Panzeri del Patricia Maguire 21-5 21shy521-12

Quarterfinal Round Adams del Rodriguez 21-4 21-12 21-10 McKinney del Harding 21-14 21-1 718-21 21-17 Gilreath del Lynch 21-14 21-17 21-14 Panzeri del Drexler 24-22 21-11 21-18

Semifinal Round Adams del McKinney 21-14 21-10 21-15 Panzeri del Gilreath 21-16 20-22 21-17 21-15

Final Round ADAMS del Panzeri 21-14 21-12 21-6

bull ble factor in how you are playing This will enable you to make adjustments in your game plan if necessary while you will also be able to learn more about your own strengths and weaknesses from the matches you play The ultimate reward will be winning more matches and makshying a faster improvement in your game

bull 36

BY STEVE STRANDEMO AND BILL BRUNS

ADVANCED RAC~UETBALL

PART 4 THE SERVE

Editors Notemiddot This article Part Four in Advanced Racquetball will be divided into two sections because its original length was too long to be printed in its entirety The second half will appear In our November issue

Introduction Steve Strandemo and Bill Bruns proved to be

a winning team with their best-selling The Racquetball Book a comprehensive guide to playing the game They followed this up with the popular Advanced Racquetball which provides expert advice for any player who takes the sport seriously In both books Strandemo drew on his years of experience as one of the games most renowned players as well as the insights gained from teaching the game to thousands of players around the country

Both Strandemo books were published by Wallaby Books adivision of Simon and Schuster and are available at most book stores For an opportunity to have Steve give your game his personal attention write to him about his instructional camps CO Strandemo Racquetshyball Camps PO Box 24445 San Diego CA 92124

Good serving is built upon many indishyvidual approaches your location in the service box your step motion into

the-ball your stroke and your method of relocashytion Yet in striving for an expert serve theres not some unique overall style you must uncover achievable only by the pros This chapter will give you the key guidelines that you can actually tackle on your own in practice Then as you play theres always an objective measurement of your effectiveness how consistently you can get the ball deep into the back corners and by doing so either (1) have the possibility of an ace (2) force a weak return or (3) cause your

nIIEm

a s

These are your important front -wall targets on the serve when contacting the ball from the middle of the court Remember that when you readjust your position in eithe(iJirection these targets will all shift accordingly and because of the angles involved some of them Will be eliminated-either because your location will make them Impossible to hit or to avoid being guilty of a screen

37

opponent to go defensively to the ceiling Conshyversely you want to mini mize his good offensive opportunities by keeping the ball from coming off the walls as a setup

The Low-Drive Serve

Build your attack around this serve for when you can make the ball bounce just beyond the short line-between you and the side wall on the floor-you will neutralize the best of opposhynents Of course applying this pressure dema nds pinpoint accuracy as you try to hit front-wall target areas that are much smaller th~n comshymonly-visua~zed -Ive found for example that Im aiming for a rectangular target about 4 inches high and 9 inches wide If I hit slightly lower the serve is short if Im slightly higher the ball rebounds off the back wall for a setup This target area is about the same size for most advanced players but its location up and down will vary-depending upon the velocity of your seve and how low you can get your racquet into the shot so that you can hit with aslight upward stroke giving the ball an arc to safely clear the short line

Beginners can aim for larger targets because their opponents lack the ability to ca pitalize as often on serves that are hit either too high or at too wide an angle But in tougher competition the premium is on accuracy your target areas must shrink and you must hit them more freshy

quently since your opponents can put away ma ny more of your misses or certainly force you onto the defensive Youre trying to give your opponent minimum reaction time but more important you want to pin him deep along the side walls and in the back corners withourallowshying him a chance to set up

Find Your Front- Wall Targets

If youve been relying on instinct and expeshyrience to sense where you should hit the front wall its unlikely that you can point to your actual low-drive targets Not to worry if youve developed a great serve but when inconsisshytency is a big problem-as it is for most players-heres an easy method to determine your exact target areas in practice

As you serve have a friend stand near the front wall (safely to one side) and mark where the ball hits this wall while you watch the path of the ball so you can categorize the serve as short good or long Ideally if you use peel-off stickers in three different colors to mark the corresponding spots on the wall youll soon have a visual target area outlining where you want to hit (Remember that an excellent serve either takes two bounces before the back wall or hits the floor correctly and barely nicks the side wall In either case the ball doesnt come off either wall as a setup)

Once youve established your target areas from a particular contact position in the service

box you still must rely on feel when you actually playa match But youll develop a sounder serve and one that causes you far less anxiety under pressure if you spend time getshyting that relationship fixed between where you contact the ball and the target area_ Then instead of relying on guesswork to make adjustshyments you can be oblective Even though I now realize just how small my targets are I know where they are and I actually serve better said a friend I concentrate more on what Im doing and if Im missing I know its just a matter of hitting acouple of inches higher or lower on the front wall So I get a lot less frustrated with myself

Footwork Motion in the Service Box

Good serving (on low-drives and hard Zs) starts with a two-step motion into the ball that covers as much of the 5-foot service box as you can comfortably manage This helps generate maximum leg power and upper-body momenshytum into the shot As the photographs show the first step is usually a short preparation step by the right foot perhaps 12 inches straight or diagonally toward the front wall followed by a long power stride with the left leg Contact the ball off your front foot from calf to Just above knee level depending upon how low you can get (by bending your back knee and bending at the waist or dipping your hitting shoulder) in order

- -I I

III

targets for your hard aggressive serves are shown large for purposes of In reality to be effective in advanced play you must hit target areas that are _ ration approximately 4middotbymiddot9 inches in size

J hit slightly up at the ball Heres where you I Iso want solid forehand technique-a whipshy=ng and an explosive wrist snap in the impact me

)elocation After Serving

Relocation is an easy and natural shuffling lotion to deep court when your opponent goes tMe ceiling However if he tries to go low zone 11th your serve relocation becomes much ugher because of the minimal time involved - IS is a crucial skill but one that too often is -~glected by advancing players which greatly

limits their progress Remember racquetball is played primarily in the back half of the court and you cant afford to remain in the service box thinking you can handle the well middotplaced returns Of an opponent Work hard to reach as solid a covering position as time allows-ideally 3 or 4 feet behi nd the back service line-knowing that there will still be many times when your oppomiddot nent stretches over and returns the ball offenmiddot sively before youre ready

Trying to relocate properly behind the service box after serving aggressively is one of the toughest Jobsin racquetball Your momentum is going forward as you land on your left foot and

now you must bank and go the other way as quickly as possible by driving off your left leg while pivoting with your right leg Maintaining good body control through all of this is equally important since you want to be ready to break in any direction to cover your opponents return Try to relocate close to the middle of the court (between the side walls) shading just slightly to the side your opponent is on but giving him clearance to hit downmiddotthe-line or crossmiddotcourt

After serving immediately look back to see the path of the ball and then study your oppomiddot nent to see whether hes going low zone or high

c9Y to begin his motion into the ball the The first step is normally about 12 inches in This short preparatory step is followed by a long = ler has his feet on the short line so that he can thiS case just a back crossmiddotover step but there are powerful stride forward setting up the ideal fore middot _ the entire 5middotfoot service zone many variations hand stroke The server plants the left foot and

comes through with all his power

39

2

Relocating Afte r The Serve When the server snaps the ball properly into aback corner he should relocate diagonally back as indishycated by the arrows (1) If he misses his target to either side he may have to adjust straight back or move to the other side of the court

He stays low as he comple tes a powerful stroke while ma intaining good body balance (2)

Quick and efficient movement out of the service box starts with this simultaneous action-pivoting on the right foot and driving back with the left leg (3)

Try to get your left foot back as far as possible (4) while studying your opponents in tentions

For a low-drive serve the ball should be hit on aslightly upward are allowing it to be hit hard while safely carrying the short line The server is contacting the ball about 6 to 8 inches off the floor and aiming for a frontwall target about 18 inches high (as indicated by the yardstiCk)

40

--------------------------------------------_-------- - ----shy

4

Along shuffle step (5) will now move you far enough back hopefully to avoid being jammed by an opposhynent s quick low-lone return

lf you see that your opponent is going to the ceiling (6) retreat to the back of the court where her shot is going to locate

lf your opponent is going low lone (7) anchor down as you try to read his return-and be ready to move

lone Reading his intef1tions~right up until impact will give you invaluable information as you anticipate your next shot Conversely if you turn back to the front wall before your opponent goes to hit you ve reached a plateau in your improvement because you have no anticipation

This low -drive angle has the ball traveling straight into the back corner landing between the server and the side wall and bouncing twice before reaching the back wall

41

------

~

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bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

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I

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I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

BY STEVE STRANDEMO AND BILL BRUNS

ADVANCED RAC~UETBALL

PART 4 THE SERVE

Editors Notemiddot This article Part Four in Advanced Racquetball will be divided into two sections because its original length was too long to be printed in its entirety The second half will appear In our November issue

Introduction Steve Strandemo and Bill Bruns proved to be

a winning team with their best-selling The Racquetball Book a comprehensive guide to playing the game They followed this up with the popular Advanced Racquetball which provides expert advice for any player who takes the sport seriously In both books Strandemo drew on his years of experience as one of the games most renowned players as well as the insights gained from teaching the game to thousands of players around the country

Both Strandemo books were published by Wallaby Books adivision of Simon and Schuster and are available at most book stores For an opportunity to have Steve give your game his personal attention write to him about his instructional camps CO Strandemo Racquetshyball Camps PO Box 24445 San Diego CA 92124

Good serving is built upon many indishyvidual approaches your location in the service box your step motion into

the-ball your stroke and your method of relocashytion Yet in striving for an expert serve theres not some unique overall style you must uncover achievable only by the pros This chapter will give you the key guidelines that you can actually tackle on your own in practice Then as you play theres always an objective measurement of your effectiveness how consistently you can get the ball deep into the back corners and by doing so either (1) have the possibility of an ace (2) force a weak return or (3) cause your

nIIEm

a s

These are your important front -wall targets on the serve when contacting the ball from the middle of the court Remember that when you readjust your position in eithe(iJirection these targets will all shift accordingly and because of the angles involved some of them Will be eliminated-either because your location will make them Impossible to hit or to avoid being guilty of a screen

37

opponent to go defensively to the ceiling Conshyversely you want to mini mize his good offensive opportunities by keeping the ball from coming off the walls as a setup

The Low-Drive Serve

Build your attack around this serve for when you can make the ball bounce just beyond the short line-between you and the side wall on the floor-you will neutralize the best of opposhynents Of course applying this pressure dema nds pinpoint accuracy as you try to hit front-wall target areas that are much smaller th~n comshymonly-visua~zed -Ive found for example that Im aiming for a rectangular target about 4 inches high and 9 inches wide If I hit slightly lower the serve is short if Im slightly higher the ball rebounds off the back wall for a setup This target area is about the same size for most advanced players but its location up and down will vary-depending upon the velocity of your seve and how low you can get your racquet into the shot so that you can hit with aslight upward stroke giving the ball an arc to safely clear the short line

Beginners can aim for larger targets because their opponents lack the ability to ca pitalize as often on serves that are hit either too high or at too wide an angle But in tougher competition the premium is on accuracy your target areas must shrink and you must hit them more freshy

quently since your opponents can put away ma ny more of your misses or certainly force you onto the defensive Youre trying to give your opponent minimum reaction time but more important you want to pin him deep along the side walls and in the back corners withourallowshying him a chance to set up

Find Your Front- Wall Targets

If youve been relying on instinct and expeshyrience to sense where you should hit the front wall its unlikely that you can point to your actual low-drive targets Not to worry if youve developed a great serve but when inconsisshytency is a big problem-as it is for most players-heres an easy method to determine your exact target areas in practice

As you serve have a friend stand near the front wall (safely to one side) and mark where the ball hits this wall while you watch the path of the ball so you can categorize the serve as short good or long Ideally if you use peel-off stickers in three different colors to mark the corresponding spots on the wall youll soon have a visual target area outlining where you want to hit (Remember that an excellent serve either takes two bounces before the back wall or hits the floor correctly and barely nicks the side wall In either case the ball doesnt come off either wall as a setup)

Once youve established your target areas from a particular contact position in the service

box you still must rely on feel when you actually playa match But youll develop a sounder serve and one that causes you far less anxiety under pressure if you spend time getshyting that relationship fixed between where you contact the ball and the target area_ Then instead of relying on guesswork to make adjustshyments you can be oblective Even though I now realize just how small my targets are I know where they are and I actually serve better said a friend I concentrate more on what Im doing and if Im missing I know its just a matter of hitting acouple of inches higher or lower on the front wall So I get a lot less frustrated with myself

Footwork Motion in the Service Box

Good serving (on low-drives and hard Zs) starts with a two-step motion into the ball that covers as much of the 5-foot service box as you can comfortably manage This helps generate maximum leg power and upper-body momenshytum into the shot As the photographs show the first step is usually a short preparation step by the right foot perhaps 12 inches straight or diagonally toward the front wall followed by a long power stride with the left leg Contact the ball off your front foot from calf to Just above knee level depending upon how low you can get (by bending your back knee and bending at the waist or dipping your hitting shoulder) in order

- -I I

III

targets for your hard aggressive serves are shown large for purposes of In reality to be effective in advanced play you must hit target areas that are _ ration approximately 4middotbymiddot9 inches in size

J hit slightly up at the ball Heres where you I Iso want solid forehand technique-a whipshy=ng and an explosive wrist snap in the impact me

)elocation After Serving

Relocation is an easy and natural shuffling lotion to deep court when your opponent goes tMe ceiling However if he tries to go low zone 11th your serve relocation becomes much ugher because of the minimal time involved - IS is a crucial skill but one that too often is -~glected by advancing players which greatly

limits their progress Remember racquetball is played primarily in the back half of the court and you cant afford to remain in the service box thinking you can handle the well middotplaced returns Of an opponent Work hard to reach as solid a covering position as time allows-ideally 3 or 4 feet behi nd the back service line-knowing that there will still be many times when your oppomiddot nent stretches over and returns the ball offenmiddot sively before youre ready

Trying to relocate properly behind the service box after serving aggressively is one of the toughest Jobsin racquetball Your momentum is going forward as you land on your left foot and

now you must bank and go the other way as quickly as possible by driving off your left leg while pivoting with your right leg Maintaining good body control through all of this is equally important since you want to be ready to break in any direction to cover your opponents return Try to relocate close to the middle of the court (between the side walls) shading just slightly to the side your opponent is on but giving him clearance to hit downmiddotthe-line or crossmiddotcourt

After serving immediately look back to see the path of the ball and then study your oppomiddot nent to see whether hes going low zone or high

c9Y to begin his motion into the ball the The first step is normally about 12 inches in This short preparatory step is followed by a long = ler has his feet on the short line so that he can thiS case just a back crossmiddotover step but there are powerful stride forward setting up the ideal fore middot _ the entire 5middotfoot service zone many variations hand stroke The server plants the left foot and

comes through with all his power

39

2

Relocating Afte r The Serve When the server snaps the ball properly into aback corner he should relocate diagonally back as indishycated by the arrows (1) If he misses his target to either side he may have to adjust straight back or move to the other side of the court

He stays low as he comple tes a powerful stroke while ma intaining good body balance (2)

Quick and efficient movement out of the service box starts with this simultaneous action-pivoting on the right foot and driving back with the left leg (3)

Try to get your left foot back as far as possible (4) while studying your opponents in tentions

For a low-drive serve the ball should be hit on aslightly upward are allowing it to be hit hard while safely carrying the short line The server is contacting the ball about 6 to 8 inches off the floor and aiming for a frontwall target about 18 inches high (as indicated by the yardstiCk)

40

--------------------------------------------_-------- - ----shy

4

Along shuffle step (5) will now move you far enough back hopefully to avoid being jammed by an opposhynent s quick low-lone return

lf you see that your opponent is going to the ceiling (6) retreat to the back of the court where her shot is going to locate

lf your opponent is going low lone (7) anchor down as you try to read his return-and be ready to move

lone Reading his intef1tions~right up until impact will give you invaluable information as you anticipate your next shot Conversely if you turn back to the front wall before your opponent goes to hit you ve reached a plateau in your improvement because you have no anticipation

This low -drive angle has the ball traveling straight into the back corner landing between the server and the side wall and bouncing twice before reaching the back wall

41

------

~

I

I

I

I

-8

bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

I I

I

I

I bullbull ~

I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

opponent to go defensively to the ceiling Conshyversely you want to mini mize his good offensive opportunities by keeping the ball from coming off the walls as a setup

The Low-Drive Serve

Build your attack around this serve for when you can make the ball bounce just beyond the short line-between you and the side wall on the floor-you will neutralize the best of opposhynents Of course applying this pressure dema nds pinpoint accuracy as you try to hit front-wall target areas that are much smaller th~n comshymonly-visua~zed -Ive found for example that Im aiming for a rectangular target about 4 inches high and 9 inches wide If I hit slightly lower the serve is short if Im slightly higher the ball rebounds off the back wall for a setup This target area is about the same size for most advanced players but its location up and down will vary-depending upon the velocity of your seve and how low you can get your racquet into the shot so that you can hit with aslight upward stroke giving the ball an arc to safely clear the short line

Beginners can aim for larger targets because their opponents lack the ability to ca pitalize as often on serves that are hit either too high or at too wide an angle But in tougher competition the premium is on accuracy your target areas must shrink and you must hit them more freshy

quently since your opponents can put away ma ny more of your misses or certainly force you onto the defensive Youre trying to give your opponent minimum reaction time but more important you want to pin him deep along the side walls and in the back corners withourallowshying him a chance to set up

Find Your Front- Wall Targets

If youve been relying on instinct and expeshyrience to sense where you should hit the front wall its unlikely that you can point to your actual low-drive targets Not to worry if youve developed a great serve but when inconsisshytency is a big problem-as it is for most players-heres an easy method to determine your exact target areas in practice

As you serve have a friend stand near the front wall (safely to one side) and mark where the ball hits this wall while you watch the path of the ball so you can categorize the serve as short good or long Ideally if you use peel-off stickers in three different colors to mark the corresponding spots on the wall youll soon have a visual target area outlining where you want to hit (Remember that an excellent serve either takes two bounces before the back wall or hits the floor correctly and barely nicks the side wall In either case the ball doesnt come off either wall as a setup)

Once youve established your target areas from a particular contact position in the service

box you still must rely on feel when you actually playa match But youll develop a sounder serve and one that causes you far less anxiety under pressure if you spend time getshyting that relationship fixed between where you contact the ball and the target area_ Then instead of relying on guesswork to make adjustshyments you can be oblective Even though I now realize just how small my targets are I know where they are and I actually serve better said a friend I concentrate more on what Im doing and if Im missing I know its just a matter of hitting acouple of inches higher or lower on the front wall So I get a lot less frustrated with myself

Footwork Motion in the Service Box

Good serving (on low-drives and hard Zs) starts with a two-step motion into the ball that covers as much of the 5-foot service box as you can comfortably manage This helps generate maximum leg power and upper-body momenshytum into the shot As the photographs show the first step is usually a short preparation step by the right foot perhaps 12 inches straight or diagonally toward the front wall followed by a long power stride with the left leg Contact the ball off your front foot from calf to Just above knee level depending upon how low you can get (by bending your back knee and bending at the waist or dipping your hitting shoulder) in order

- -I I

III

targets for your hard aggressive serves are shown large for purposes of In reality to be effective in advanced play you must hit target areas that are _ ration approximately 4middotbymiddot9 inches in size

J hit slightly up at the ball Heres where you I Iso want solid forehand technique-a whipshy=ng and an explosive wrist snap in the impact me

)elocation After Serving

Relocation is an easy and natural shuffling lotion to deep court when your opponent goes tMe ceiling However if he tries to go low zone 11th your serve relocation becomes much ugher because of the minimal time involved - IS is a crucial skill but one that too often is -~glected by advancing players which greatly

limits their progress Remember racquetball is played primarily in the back half of the court and you cant afford to remain in the service box thinking you can handle the well middotplaced returns Of an opponent Work hard to reach as solid a covering position as time allows-ideally 3 or 4 feet behi nd the back service line-knowing that there will still be many times when your oppomiddot nent stretches over and returns the ball offenmiddot sively before youre ready

Trying to relocate properly behind the service box after serving aggressively is one of the toughest Jobsin racquetball Your momentum is going forward as you land on your left foot and

now you must bank and go the other way as quickly as possible by driving off your left leg while pivoting with your right leg Maintaining good body control through all of this is equally important since you want to be ready to break in any direction to cover your opponents return Try to relocate close to the middle of the court (between the side walls) shading just slightly to the side your opponent is on but giving him clearance to hit downmiddotthe-line or crossmiddotcourt

After serving immediately look back to see the path of the ball and then study your oppomiddot nent to see whether hes going low zone or high

c9Y to begin his motion into the ball the The first step is normally about 12 inches in This short preparatory step is followed by a long = ler has his feet on the short line so that he can thiS case just a back crossmiddotover step but there are powerful stride forward setting up the ideal fore middot _ the entire 5middotfoot service zone many variations hand stroke The server plants the left foot and

comes through with all his power

39

2

Relocating Afte r The Serve When the server snaps the ball properly into aback corner he should relocate diagonally back as indishycated by the arrows (1) If he misses his target to either side he may have to adjust straight back or move to the other side of the court

He stays low as he comple tes a powerful stroke while ma intaining good body balance (2)

Quick and efficient movement out of the service box starts with this simultaneous action-pivoting on the right foot and driving back with the left leg (3)

Try to get your left foot back as far as possible (4) while studying your opponents in tentions

For a low-drive serve the ball should be hit on aslightly upward are allowing it to be hit hard while safely carrying the short line The server is contacting the ball about 6 to 8 inches off the floor and aiming for a frontwall target about 18 inches high (as indicated by the yardstiCk)

40

--------------------------------------------_-------- - ----shy

4

Along shuffle step (5) will now move you far enough back hopefully to avoid being jammed by an opposhynent s quick low-lone return

lf you see that your opponent is going to the ceiling (6) retreat to the back of the court where her shot is going to locate

lf your opponent is going low lone (7) anchor down as you try to read his return-and be ready to move

lone Reading his intef1tions~right up until impact will give you invaluable information as you anticipate your next shot Conversely if you turn back to the front wall before your opponent goes to hit you ve reached a plateau in your improvement because you have no anticipation

This low -drive angle has the ball traveling straight into the back corner landing between the server and the side wall and bouncing twice before reaching the back wall

41

------

~

I

I

I

I

-8

bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

I I

I

I

I bullbull ~

I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

- -I I

III

targets for your hard aggressive serves are shown large for purposes of In reality to be effective in advanced play you must hit target areas that are _ ration approximately 4middotbymiddot9 inches in size

J hit slightly up at the ball Heres where you I Iso want solid forehand technique-a whipshy=ng and an explosive wrist snap in the impact me

)elocation After Serving

Relocation is an easy and natural shuffling lotion to deep court when your opponent goes tMe ceiling However if he tries to go low zone 11th your serve relocation becomes much ugher because of the minimal time involved - IS is a crucial skill but one that too often is -~glected by advancing players which greatly

limits their progress Remember racquetball is played primarily in the back half of the court and you cant afford to remain in the service box thinking you can handle the well middotplaced returns Of an opponent Work hard to reach as solid a covering position as time allows-ideally 3 or 4 feet behi nd the back service line-knowing that there will still be many times when your oppomiddot nent stretches over and returns the ball offenmiddot sively before youre ready

Trying to relocate properly behind the service box after serving aggressively is one of the toughest Jobsin racquetball Your momentum is going forward as you land on your left foot and

now you must bank and go the other way as quickly as possible by driving off your left leg while pivoting with your right leg Maintaining good body control through all of this is equally important since you want to be ready to break in any direction to cover your opponents return Try to relocate close to the middle of the court (between the side walls) shading just slightly to the side your opponent is on but giving him clearance to hit downmiddotthe-line or crossmiddotcourt

After serving immediately look back to see the path of the ball and then study your oppomiddot nent to see whether hes going low zone or high

c9Y to begin his motion into the ball the The first step is normally about 12 inches in This short preparatory step is followed by a long = ler has his feet on the short line so that he can thiS case just a back crossmiddotover step but there are powerful stride forward setting up the ideal fore middot _ the entire 5middotfoot service zone many variations hand stroke The server plants the left foot and

comes through with all his power

39

2

Relocating Afte r The Serve When the server snaps the ball properly into aback corner he should relocate diagonally back as indishycated by the arrows (1) If he misses his target to either side he may have to adjust straight back or move to the other side of the court

He stays low as he comple tes a powerful stroke while ma intaining good body balance (2)

Quick and efficient movement out of the service box starts with this simultaneous action-pivoting on the right foot and driving back with the left leg (3)

Try to get your left foot back as far as possible (4) while studying your opponents in tentions

For a low-drive serve the ball should be hit on aslightly upward are allowing it to be hit hard while safely carrying the short line The server is contacting the ball about 6 to 8 inches off the floor and aiming for a frontwall target about 18 inches high (as indicated by the yardstiCk)

40

--------------------------------------------_-------- - ----shy

4

Along shuffle step (5) will now move you far enough back hopefully to avoid being jammed by an opposhynent s quick low-lone return

lf you see that your opponent is going to the ceiling (6) retreat to the back of the court where her shot is going to locate

lf your opponent is going low lone (7) anchor down as you try to read his return-and be ready to move

lone Reading his intef1tions~right up until impact will give you invaluable information as you anticipate your next shot Conversely if you turn back to the front wall before your opponent goes to hit you ve reached a plateau in your improvement because you have no anticipation

This low -drive angle has the ball traveling straight into the back corner landing between the server and the side wall and bouncing twice before reaching the back wall

41

------

~

I

I

I

I

-8

bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

I I

I

I

I bullbull ~

I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

2

Relocating Afte r The Serve When the server snaps the ball properly into aback corner he should relocate diagonally back as indishycated by the arrows (1) If he misses his target to either side he may have to adjust straight back or move to the other side of the court

He stays low as he comple tes a powerful stroke while ma intaining good body balance (2)

Quick and efficient movement out of the service box starts with this simultaneous action-pivoting on the right foot and driving back with the left leg (3)

Try to get your left foot back as far as possible (4) while studying your opponents in tentions

For a low-drive serve the ball should be hit on aslightly upward are allowing it to be hit hard while safely carrying the short line The server is contacting the ball about 6 to 8 inches off the floor and aiming for a frontwall target about 18 inches high (as indicated by the yardstiCk)

40

--------------------------------------------_-------- - ----shy

4

Along shuffle step (5) will now move you far enough back hopefully to avoid being jammed by an opposhynent s quick low-lone return

lf you see that your opponent is going to the ceiling (6) retreat to the back of the court where her shot is going to locate

lf your opponent is going low lone (7) anchor down as you try to read his return-and be ready to move

lone Reading his intef1tions~right up until impact will give you invaluable information as you anticipate your next shot Conversely if you turn back to the front wall before your opponent goes to hit you ve reached a plateau in your improvement because you have no anticipation

This low -drive angle has the ball traveling straight into the back corner landing between the server and the side wall and bouncing twice before reaching the back wall

41

------

~

I

I

I

I

-8

bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

I I

I

I

I bullbull ~

I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

Along shuffle step (5) will now move you far enough back hopefully to avoid being jammed by an opposhynent s quick low-lone return

lf you see that your opponent is going to the ceiling (6) retreat to the back of the court where her shot is going to locate

lf your opponent is going low lone (7) anchor down as you try to read his return-and be ready to move

lone Reading his intef1tions~right up until impact will give you invaluable information as you anticipate your next shot Conversely if you turn back to the front wall before your opponent goes to hit you ve reached a plateau in your improvement because you have no anticipation

This low -drive angle has the ball traveling straight into the back corner landing between the server and the side wall and bouncing twice before reaching the back wall

41

------

~

I

I

I

I

-8

bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

I I

I

I

I bullbull ~

I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

------

~

I

I

I

I

-8

bull

i I

I I I

I

I D I

I

I I

I

I

I bullbull ~

I

Your best percentage goal on a low-drive serve is to make the ball take its first bounce within the black rectangle (left)-ideally iust behind the short line The ball will then carry into the back corner and force your opponent to stretch out just to get his racquet on the ball_

I I

bull The Crack Ace Attempt Some players are tempted to bring the serve in iust beyond the short line and close to the junction of the floor and the Side wall hoping for a crack ace or a ball that bounces twice before the returner can move forward to dig it up_

~------~-------- ~

42

Many times an even more effective serve is to Iry to have the ball barely nick the side wall on its way to the back corner This can force the returner to stretch an extra foot which is often enough to cause a weaker return Unfortunately this serve oftentimes ca tches too much side wall and comes off as a setup

I

~

--~-~ -------~~~

Unfortunately this serve is much more likely to catch the side wall too high and then carom duectly into the returner

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION

Other Low-Drive Reminders

Two strategy points on the low drive

1 Since its difficult for players at every level to be consistently accurate with this serve use it only as a first attempt And if youre going to error try to error on the short side You still have an effective second serve that can safely neushytralize your opponent (either Zs or lobs) and meanwhile youre not giving him plums off the back and side walls

2 I emphasize having the ball hit the floor first because thi s heads the ball on agood angle toward the back corner It may go directly to the corner or-ideally-carom slightly off the side wall and then into the corner (As the photos show a deep side-wa ll nick off the floor can force your opponent to stretch another 9 to 12 inches for his return and this can often mean the difference in getting his racquet on the baiL) You may be tempted to gamble for crack aces by trying to have the ball catch the juncture between the side wall and the floor but it s rarely worth the risk (nor is it even a realistic expectation) If you happen to get this ace fine but dont count on it happening when its 8-all in atiebreaker More important when the ball hits the side wall directly off the front wall it will almost always kick out toward the middle of the court giving your opponent an offensive shot

bull

When the crack ace attempt fails notice where the server must relocate to give his opponent open hitting lanes to the front wall (leaving himself parshyticularly vulnerable to a down-themiddotline pass)

43

This is the Head to Head Competition Chart for the top 15 men and women professionals

How to read this chart For any player the wonloss record against every middotother player is read horizontally opposite hisher name

N w c (j)f-J W (j) Z (j)f- s~ ~z z w laquo I c w w laquo laquo w

Mens laquo w u W z U N U W W c ~ 2 2 Z

(9 J w z w U J J Il c Il ~ 0 s s J a Ja w laquo a J c z laquo w w I w

I gt- lt9 I ci (9 I a Il laquo I z (j) f- J

M HOGAN 2-5 0-1 5-1 3-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 2-1 3-0 2-0 3-0 3-0

M YELLEN 5-2 4-1 3-1 2-0 3-0 1-0 1-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-1 1-0

G PECK 1-0 1-4 3-3 0-5 1-1 1-0 0-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 2-0

B HARNETT 1-5 3-3 1-0 2-0 2-0 0-1 2-1 1-0 1-0 0-1

D PECK 0-3 1-3 5-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 1-1 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

R GONZALEZ 0-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0-3 1-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 1-0

J HILECHER 0-2 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 1-0 1-1 2-0

S OLIVER 0-2 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 2-0 0-1 0-1

G PRICE 1-2 1-1 0-2 1-2 1-1 1-0 1-0 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0

E ANDREWS 0-3 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-1

B HAWKES 0-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0

J NEWMAN 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-1 1-0 0-1 1-0

B SELL 1-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 2-0

D THOMAS 0-3 0-1 0-2 1-0

M LEVINE 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-1 0-1

f-I gt- cf- Z f- W (9 (j)

f- ~ a a z w a f- z zgt- I w (j) w c J IlW (j) zWomens laquo 2 (9 c N c ~ c 0 W 0 IlJ

~ laquo J z c 2 u c c w c a J u 0 c laquo ~ laquo u laquo laquo laquo c laquo f- fshy2 laquo s (9 Il 0 2 2 - OJ (9 (9 I (j) (j)

H McKAY 4-2 2-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 2-0

LADAMS 2-4 2-0 2-0 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

SWmiddotHAMILTN 0-2 0-2 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0

T GI LREATH 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-0 2-1 1-0 0-1

VPANZERI 0-2 0-2 1-1 1-0 1-1 0-1

FDAVIS 0-2 0-1 1-1 2-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0

SMARRIOTT 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-2 0-1 1-1 1-0 3-0 1-0

CMcKINNEY 0-2 0-3 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1

J JACKSON 0-2 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-1 2-0

B BARRETT 0-3 0-1 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-1

PGARDNER 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0

MGREER 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-1

J HARD ING 0-1 1-0 0-3 0-2 0-1

BSTOLL 0-2 0-1 1-1 0-1

HSTUPP 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

DEC 6-9 Schoebers Racquetball Spa Pleasanton Club Contact John ODonovan 44250 Warm Springs Blvd Suite 9 Fremont CA 94539 415-651-1584 Total money tentative

JAN 23~27 Arizona Athletic Club Contact Jack Nolan 1425 West 14th Street

Tempe AZ 85281 602-894-2281 Total money tentative

MAR 1-3 Crack Shooter Open Rocky Mountain Health Club Contact Steve Gallassini 1880 Estland Road Cheyenne WY 82001 307 -634-8amp84 Total money tentative

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE DP Nationals STBA

WOMENS PRO STOPS

DATE LOCATION

OCT 18-21 Auburn Health amp Racquet Club Contact Joan Arnold Route 20 Auburn MA 01501 617-832-3236

NOV 30- Celebrity Courts DEC 2 Contact Frank Rawcli ffe

500 Quaker Lane Warwick RI 02886 401-826- 1800

JAN 17-20 Sports Gallery Contact Jim Carson 714-968-4313

FEB 15-17 Racquets Edge Recreation Center Contact Leslie Brenker Vermont 802-879-7734

MAY Ektelon Nationals STBA

JUNE WPRA Nationals Contact Ken Newell Ft Worth TX 817-284-3353

PRIZE MONEY

$12000

$10000

$10000

$22 500

$40000

PRIZE MONEY

$12 000

$6000

$10000

$6000

$18700

$22 000

OCTOBER

Oct 11-14 2nd Ann ual Juniors Only Open Roya l Spa amp Co urt Club 210 1 E Bloo mfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 12-14 First Ba nk Open 3 YMCA 420 South Lincoln Street Aberdeen SD 57401 605 -225-4910

Oct 12-14 Gleneagles 5th ~Q oual Open 3 5051 Collegebak Dri ve

_Sac rame~ IBmiddotCA 95841 916-338-1850 Pat Hoffman

Oct 12-14 Habor Pines Racquet Cl ub PO Box E G 816 Melbourne FL 32935

Oct 12-14 Mindys Open Tournament 3 Boulevard Racquet Club 1185 Niagra Fa lls Bl vd Bu ffa lo NY 14226

Oct 12-14 Ohio State Doubles 4 Harveys Wallba nger 17537 Raslough Rd Middleburg Hgts OH 441 30 And also at Co urtrooms I 124 1 Industrial Pkway Brunswick OH 442 12

Oct 12-14 Oktoberfest Open Colony Court Club 44 44 Sa nd Creek Road A~bary_N Y- 122 11 John Martinz 518-459-44 44

Oct 12-14 Region I Adu lts 5 Empire One 85 Lemay Street Chicopee MA 01013 413-536middot8574

Oct 12-14 Supreme Co urt West 3725 West 13th Streel Wichi ta KS 67203 Jack amp Kendra Hall 316-948middot8331

Oct 18-21 Women Only Tourname nt 3 Killshot Ltd 32 1 Ed gewa ter Dri ve Bloom ingdale IL 60108 Judy Yo ung 312-469middot3083

i Oct 19-21 bull Autu mn Gold 3 Dowrrtown YMCA

Montgomery Street Syracuse NY Dennis Ryder

Oct 19-21 Cool Cucumber Tournament 3 Lakelan d YMCA

3620 Clevela nd Hts Blvd Lakeland FL 33801

Oct 19-21 Clyde Bartle tt MIS Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 03 101 603 middot688-8375

Oct 19-21 Grea t Pu mpkin Open 3 Sac rame nto Handball and RB Club 725 14th Street Sacramento CA 95814 916-383-3070

Oct 19-21 Kentucky Racquetba ll Assoc Tour Stop Autumn Open YMCA Downtown Louisvi ll e KY

Oct 25-28 Natio nal Doubles Championships 4

Oct 19-21 South Florida Racquetba ll Club 3 5555 Ravenswood Road Ft La uderdale FL 33312

Oct 19-21 The Club House 3 Box 419 Dodge City KS 67801 Steve Westphal 316 middot225 -0206

Oct 25-28 National Do ubles Championships 6 The Court House 7211 Colonial Boise ID 83705 208-377 -004 1

Oct 26-28 2nd Annual Juniors Only Open 3 Roya l Spa amp Court Club 2101 E Bloomfield Highway Farmington NM 87401

Oct 26 -28 Gladsto ne Spalding Cl ub 3 2707 BroQ~~t9JlelaR e Gladstone Mo 641 19 Joh n Gray 816-452- 1516

NOVEMBER

Nov 1-4 Jack Fulton 8th Annual Open 3 Memphis State Un iv PE Complex 630 Echols Mem phiS TN 3811 1

Nov 1-4 Sacra mento Co urt Club 3 Spare Time Inc 79 19 Folsom Blvd Suite 150 Sacramento CA 95826

Nov 1-4 Tournament 3 Racquetb all Club 1908 OlympIc Blvd Wa lnut Creek CA 94596 415middot932middot6400

Nov 2-4 Budweise r Open 3 Tacoma RBC Tacoma WA

44

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -

Nov 2-4 lions Club Coke Singles Classic Lovers Lane Racquetball Club Nautilus Center Bowling Green KY

Nov 2-4 Olympiad Tournament 3 The Olympiad 8450 Dayton FI Meyers FL 33907

Nov 2-4 Rebound Ra cquetba ll Tournament 3 Rime Fitne ss Center 89 Robert Jimmerson Road Birmingham AL 35209 Mark Sandlin 20~middot942middot2119

Nov 2-4 Spartan Open 3 507 W 20th Yankton SD 57078 605middot665middot4497

Nov S-l1 Turkey Shoot 3 Sund own Dewitt Whltewaters Park way DeWitt NY 13214 Jim Winterton 315-446middot0376

Nov 9-11 Riva Open Racquetball Tournament 3 Royal Racquet Club 1718 Rollins Road Burlingame CA 94010 415middot692 middot3300

Nov 9-11 WRA 7 3 Tyrone Ra cquetba ll Club 6690 Crosswinds SI Petersburg FL 33710

Nov IS-IS Academy Awa rds Academy Court Club 5555 McLeod N E Albuquerque NM 87109

Nov 16-1S 1st Annual TV Facts Open 3 Boulevard Racquet Club Boulevard Mall 1185 Niagra Falls Blvd Buffalo NY 14226

Nov 16-1S 4middotWall Outdoor State 4 Recreation Center 202 W Park SI Auburndale FL

Nov 16-1S 6th Annual Turkey Shoot 3 Nashvi lle Supreme Court 4633 Trousdale Na shvi lle TN 37204 Jerry Dixon 615middot832middot7529

Nov 16-1S Coors Kelo Pro Am Russe ll Courts 817 W Russell Sioux Fall s SD 57104 605middot338middot9902

Novl 16-1S Court Club Ea st 3 916 S Governeour

Wichita KS 67207 316 middot683middot1442

Nov 16-1S Long Island Open 3 Sports Set RB amp Fitness

Nov 16-1S Mid Courts Turkey Shoot Open 3 20 N E DIxie Hwy Route 707 St uart FL 33494 Shirley Smith 305middot692middot9488

Nov 16-1S Mr Steak Open 3 Wall Stret Racquet Club 3120 Bradshaw Sacramento CA 95827 916middot363-4838

Nov 16-1S RCM Sports Open 3 Kings Court 260 Mayfield Mall Mountain View CA 94043 415middot965middot2409

Nov 23 -25 South Broward RB Tournamen t 3 7777 SW 39th Street Davie FL 33328

Nov 29-Dec 2 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetba ll Club 534 Owen CI Plea san ton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950 CONTINUED ON DEC 6

Nov 29-Dec 2 Auburn Freeze Out 3 27 Wi llia mStreet Auburn NY 13021 Dorothea Hughes 315middot2535304

Nov 30-0 Ec Cascade Open 3 2725 169th SI SE Bothell WA 98011 206middot481middot4081

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Gold Rush 3 Stone Mountain Athletic Club 5895 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain GA 30083 404 middot296middot1333

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop 1984 Bluegrass Open Northpark Racquetball Fitness Center Lexington KY

Nov 30-Dec 2 Royal Racquetball 3 Suffock County Old Country Road Coram NY 11727 732middot5500

Nov 3D-Dec 2 Tampa Bay Courthouse 3 7815 N Dale Mabry Tampa FL 33614 Carl Nicks

Nov 30-Dec 2 US Natl Womens Invitational 5 Tampa Bay Courthouse 7815 N Dale Mabry

Tampa FL 33164 Carl Nicks 813middot5321

DECEMBER

Dec 3middot7 Holiday Classic 3 Plaza Athletic Club 650 N Pearl Lock Box 124 Plaza of the Americas Dallas TX 75201 Steve Whiffen 214middot922middot0110

Dec 6-10 Christmas Classic 3 Schoebers Racquetball Club 534 Owen CI Pleasanton CA 94566 415middot846middot0950

Dec 6-9 Santa Fe Holiday Classic Sa nta Fe Courthouse amp Spa 1931 Warner Santa Fe NM 87501

Dec 7-9 Holiday Classic 3 Burien RBC Burien WA Sid Williams 5227 S Puget Sound Ave Ta coma WA 98409

Dec 7-9 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Greentree Racquetball Club Clarksville IN

Dec 7middot9 Racquet Power Tournament 3 3390 Kori Road Jacksonville FL 32223

JANUARY

Jan 4-6 Sundown Ea st Leukemia Benefit 3 Su ndown East 6810 Kinnest East Syracuse NY 13057 315-437middot1303

Jan 10-12 New Mexico Invitational Tom Youngs Athletic Club amp Spa 2250 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque NM 87112

Jan 11-13 Wichita State Univ Open 3 Heske tt Center Wichi ta KS 67208 316689middot3210

Jan 17middot20 Pepsi Classic 3 Fairmont AthletiC Club 3328 W Genesee SI Syracuse NY 13219 315-488middot3114

Jan lS-20 Cancer Society Open 3 Manchester Court Club 1 LeClerc Cr Manchester NH 0310 I

Jan IS-20 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Lovers Lane Racque tball Club Bowling Green KY

Jan 24middot27 Earthquake Open 3 Salinas Racquetball Club 20 E San Joaquin Sa Ii na s CA 9390 I

Jan 24-27 gt

New Mexico State JuniorsChampionships RIO Grande Sports Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

Jan 25-27 Court Club East 3 916 S Governeour Wichita KS 67207 316middot686middot1442

Jan 25-27 New York State Open 3 STBA

Jan 31-Feb 3 AARA Regionals Region 8 STBA ChicagolandIL Alvin Barasch 312middot]37300

FEBRUARY

Feb 1-3 amp 8-10 Bud Light Valentine s Day Massacre 3 Sundown Meadows 4989 Hopkins Rd Liverpool NY 13088 Jim Winterton 451middot5551

Feb 7-10 Supreme Courts Open Supreme Courts Racquet amp Health Club 4100 Prospect Ave NE Albuquerque NM 87110

Feb 8middot10 Telegraph Hill Club 3 1850 Kearney Street San Francisco CA 94112 John Aragoni 415middot982-4700

Feb 8-10 Kentucky Racquetball Assoc Tour Stop Racquetball Plus Fe rn Valley Road Louisville KY

Feb 14-17 New Mexico State Intercollegiate

Feb 14middot17 The Club House 3 Comanche amp Avenue F Dodge City KS 6780 I 316middot225middot0206

Feb 15-17 Florida State Singles STBA

Feb 22-24 New York State Championships 4 73 Babylon Sound Beach NY 11789 AI Seitleman

Feb 2S-March 3 2nd Annual Bud Light Uftimate RIO Grande Sporting Club 2500 Yale Blvd SE Albuquerque NM 87106

bull 45

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

RANKINGS

MENS RAN KINGS MENS PRO RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

WPRA RANKINGS SEPTEMBER 4 1984

AARA NATIONAL MENS RAN KINGS

The mens pro ran kings are THIS THIS JULY 12 1984 based on a 1 O-tournament rotatshy MO PLAYER POINTS MO PLAYER POINTS

REG ing schedule For each new M Hogan 91 00 Heather McKay 32200 NAME POINTS ranking event that is added to the list one event (the oldest event on the previous list) is dropped The ten events used this month are

2

3

4

5

M Yellen

G Peck

B Harnett

D Peck

81 11

6500

6222

6000

2

3

4

5

Lynn Adams

S Wright Hamilton

Terri Gilreath

Vicki Panzeri

30250

16500

11775

94 50

1 Sergio G nzalez

2 Tim Hansen

3 Dan Obremski

4 Dennis Aceto

685

593

570

550

- Chicago lL 1983 - Atlanta GA 1983 - Davison MI 1983 - Pleasanton CA 1983 - Beaverton OR 1984 - Anaheim CA 1984 - Austin TX 1984

6

7

8

9

10

11

R Gonzalez

J Hilecher

S Oliver

G Price

E Andrews

B Hawkes

5600

47 78

4714

4556

3600

3000

6

7

8

9

10

11

Francine Davis

Janell Marriott

Caryn McKinney

Joyce Jackson

Brenda Barrett

Peggy Gardner

9300

88 50

8800

6600

59 00

4875

5 Cliff Swain

6 Andy Roberts

7 Fred Calabrese

8 Mark Morriso n

9 Jim Cascio

10 John Bouchard

11 Don Costleigh

550

480

380

375

370

317

305

- Atlanta GA 1984 12 J Newman 2800 12T Marci Greer 40 50 12 Bubba Gajtier 293 - Davison MI 1984 13 B Sell 27 50 12T Jennifer Harding 40 50 13 Mike Ray 280 - Stockton CA 1984 14T D Thomas 2667 14 Bonnie Stoll 40 00 14 Brian Titus 279

The ranking system utilizes 14T M LeVine 2667 15 Heather Stupp 3675 15 Jim Cullen 260

the following point system 16 D Cohen 2600 16 Laura Martino 32 75 16 Randy Olson 257

Winner 120 pts Second 90 pts Semifinalist 70 pts

17

18

19

C Brysman

S Lerner

R Wagner

2333

2250

21 67

17

18

19

Liz Alvarado

Molly OBrien

Marcy Lynch

2800

2600

2400

17 DanFerris

18 Gene Fitzpatrick

19 Scott St Onge

250

247

235

Quarterfinalist 50 pts Round-of-16 30 pts Round-of-32 10 pts Round-of-64 2 pts

20

21

22

J Egerman

C McCoy

A Gross

2143

1750

1743

20

21

22

Carol Pranka

Martha McDonald

Mary Dee

2250

20 00

1800

20 Mike Lowe

21 Jim Owen

22 Tony Gabriel

23 Tom Neill

230

220

215

210

The total points accumulated by a player during the 10 listed events are totaled and divided

23

24

25

C Swain

M Ray

M Antes

1600

1571

1550

23

24T

24T

Diane Bullard

Rita Hoff Scott

Stacey Fletcher

1550

1500

1500

24 Brian Mitchell

25 Don Kell y

AARA NATIONAL

204

200

by the number of events in which he participated (called the divider) The largest possible divider is 10 and the minimum divider is 4

The earliest round of a tourshynament where points are awarded is the first round in

26T

26T

26T

26T

30

31T

31T

L Myers

L Gi lliam

S Moskwa

E Terry

D Gross

B Koltun

M Martino

1500

1500

1500

1500

1444

1250

1250

26

27T

27T

29T

29T

29T

32

Va l Paese

Babette Bell

Trina Rasmussen

Leslie Clifford

Marci Drexler

Monique Parent

Susie Carlos

1300

1250

1250

1000

1000

1000

750

WOMENS RANKINGS JULY 12 1984

NAME POINTS

1 Ci ndy Baxter 550

2 Mary Dee 500

3 Terri Graham 370

4 Susan Sanders 317

5 Joy Eon 314

which the top seed appears 31T D Obremski 1250 33 Jean Sauser 600 6 Dot Fischl 300

even if he draws a bye No 34T p Britos 1000 34 Suzanne Robert 550 7 Mary Holroyd 290

points are awarded for Qualifying 34T B Valin 1000 35T Kay Kuhfeld 500 8 Joyce Beaudoin 280

rounds middot 34T D Simmonette 1000 35T Peggy Steding 500 9 Jan Curtis 260

If a player has entered himself 34T B Mitchell 1000 37T Donna Meyer 300 10 Kathy Gluvna 255

in the draw and forfeits he is awarded 0 points and his divider is increased by 1 (Forfeits are

38T

38T

D Johnson

J Sacco

800

800

37T

39T

Elaine Riley

Diane Adams

300

250

11 Martha Adams

12 B Bell

13 Robin Levine

230

230

230 signified on the ranking chart with an F)

40T

40T

L Fox

D Ferris

750

750

39T

39T

Cindy Baxter

Kippi Bishop-Thulin

250

250 14 Chris Upson

15 Marie Younger

220

210

The womens ran kings are 40T K Vantrease 750 39T Susie Campbe ll 250 16 B Crawley 200

the official rankings of the 43 D Green 550 39T Lisa Devine 250 17 Terri Latham 200

Womens Professional RaCQuetshy 43T M Plotki n 550 39T Cindy Donnelly 250 18 Jessica Rubin 200 ball Association (WPRA) 4ST K Kamalu 500 39T Carol Dupuy 250 19 Malia Kamahoahoa 175

The amateur rankings are the official ran kings of the American

4ST

4ST

D Negrete

J Cascio

500

500

39T

39T

Lynn Farmer

Dot Fishl

250

250

20 Elaine Mardas

21 Melan ie Britton

175

170

Amateur Racquetball Associamiddot 4ST G Texeria 500 39T Melodie Fox 250 22 Kate Conway 160

tion (AARA) 45T J Nolan 500 39T Terri Graham 250 23 Mary Lyons 160

4ST

4ST

S Perry

S Gonzales

500

500

39T

39T

Carrie Healy

Tamara Low

250

250

24 Toni Bevelock

25 Janet Simon

150

150

46

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc

You know the problem~ Racquetball players have self-declared rankings like A B C or novice Then in a tournament an A plays a C because they thought they were 8s As a result there are complaints ARHS can solve these problems

ARHS is a computerized rating system that provides players with performance ratings based on actual game results over a period of time So players dont declare their rating shythey earn it Then in leagues and tournaments you know that players of similar skill are competing That means fewer complaints and a more enjoyable event for everyone

ARHS isnt just for leagues and tournaments It provides aU racquetball players additional incentives that go beyond just winning They can improve their performance rating beat the handicap or arrange new compatible matches

And generally become more active More active players are happfer players and that is good for the players and the sport

So put an end to sandbagging Increase your enjoyment of racquetball by encouraging your club to join ARHS Club Managers or Activity Directors can contact ARHS toll free at 1-800-328-8322 Ext 533 Or write to

yeURATE WITH

AMERICAN RACQUETBALL HANDICAP SYSTEM 10237 Yellow Circle Drive Minnetonka MN 55343

Of 1984 Standard Competit ive Raling Systems Inc